Lessons Learned from my Cat Po, the Zen Master

Our cat’s full name is Popoki (cat in Hawaiian). I’ve been calling him Master Po for a while now because he teaches me such wonderful lessons on how to BE. Here are six ways of BEing taught by Master Po:

Lesson 1: Start Each Day With Joy. Every morning, he goes out in front of our garage and sun bathes. (We live in Hawaii, so it is sunny 98% of the time.) He flops down and begins with a dance of bliss. He rolls around from side to side, basking and enjoying the sun.

Lesson 2: Love Yourself. He spends hours a day loving himself. He preens and cleans for hours at a time. He does this methodically, patiently, and thoroughly. He never rushes. You can tell he enjoys it.

Lesson 3: Be Present. Master Po is always in the moment. He takes in the beauty of his surroundings, observing the lay of the land scouting for things of interests (birds, lizards, and dogs he can taunt)

Lesson 4: Size of your body doesn’t matter, size of your spirit does. Po is an average sized cat, about 12 pounds. He loves to take on large dogs 4-5 times his size. He went after a Huskie several months ago. Most dogs register shock before they run away.

Lesson 5: Follow Your Instincts. Po is wise enough to trust his gut. There are certain dogs that he is smart enough to steer clear of. He knows the ones that would hurt him.

Lesson 6: Having Fun Never Gets Old. Po is in his 16th year, yet he never tires of playing with a long reed that we move around in front of him. He crouches, jumps, and attacks as if this was some kind of new invention.

I love Po for being himself. That’s lucky lesson # seven!