
Whoever lives with a cat knows that training a cat is not that difficult. The only thing you need to have is patience and a lot of his favourite treat. The cat is an animal which can be trained based on reward and not based on punishment. Actually, in my opinion every animal (also human) is trained better based on reward and not punishment. I never believed in my life that punishment can bring some results. But this is another story. Back to my kitty. If you want your cat to do something for you, the only thing you have to do is to give him a treat right after his good behaviour. On the other hand, if your cat has a bad behaviour it is better to ignore him while doing this or leave the house showing your dissatisfaction. The cat is an animal which always wants to draw your attention. If you ignore him it will end this behaviour in order to win your attention again. Whatever your cat does has a purpose. His purpose is to come closer to you. That’s why it is always wise to reward his good behaviour. A tasty treat and a little bit of petting is the best reward for your cat.
Living a life full of responsibilities and goals that I had to reach, the last thing I wanted was a pet. But life is unexpectable and sometimes takes the right decision for you without your asking. An unexpected meeting with my beloved kitty was a sign that I have to redefine my lifestyle. I couldn’t say no to take this beauty in my home (or maybe I have to say our home, right Deida?) When my kitty came to live with me I had to face a variety of challenges. One of them was the challenge to be able to play with my guitar without my kitty being annoyed. Even a single note of my guitar was very annoying to her. She was literally afraid of that noise begging me to stop playing it. But, my guitar is a very important part of my life. Not only is guitar a part of my job but also it was it which helped me to overcome through depression and anger issues of the past. It was the guitar which helped me release all the negative energy which was built inside me while overthinking about myself and people around me. So I had to do something for this. The guitar was the one which showed me the way towards a meditating life and Deida was the one which showed me the way to the most important values in life. I had to keep them both happy.
So I started to train my kitty to be comfortable with the sound of guitar. In the beginning it wasn’t so easy. As soon as I took the guitar to my hands she was very annoyed. So what I did? I took my guitar in my hand a couple times without playing a single note. After a few tries she was very interested in it and she came to smell the guitar. Right after her try to smell my guitar I was giving to her a tasty treat. After a couple of tries, while she was smelling the guitar I was playing a couple notes and then again I gave to her a treat. After a couple of tries I was playing more and more notes until she becomes familiar with the guitar. Now not only isn’t she afraid of it but she also enjoys it. What convinced my cat to accept the sound of guitar was the exception of a tasty treat right after my guitar playing.
Of course it wasn’t only the guitar the problem in our relationship but if you have positive vibes (and a lot of treats) everything is possible. I have to say that it wasn’t only me who trained my cat but also Deida has trained me about her needs. This is how you build a strong relationship. By showing to the other person your needs and how he can cover them. If the other person has the desire to live with you he/she will do his/her best to cover these needs. That’s how I believe relationships must be. You have to accept the other person as he is and do the best for this person (of course without forgetting your own needs which must be covered). But as always: Balance is the key! Sometimes the opponent’s needs are conflicting. This is when you need to decide what is more important for you and how many steps back you are willing to go.
The last I want to tell you about my kitty’s training is that if I had been tried to train my cat to cover all of my needs at once she would be very anxious and annoying for sure. I had to work one issue at a time and when we were ready with one then we moved to the next one. The impressive here is that my cat did also the same. She trained me at one thing at a time and when she was sure that I am comfortable with that she moved to the next one.
The same applies about the training of your emotional world. This is why I developed I.M. Meditation this way. Every time you transform a melody from negative to positive and let this melody resonate to your internal world for the rest of the day is like you give to yourself a tasty treat and make it happy. This harmonious movement of the energy inside you when a beautiful melody resonates inside your body is the best treat for your emotional world.
One last thing that my kitty taught me about meditation is that you can’t fix everything at once. You need to fix your problems one by one and when you are satisfied with your progress from the first, then you move to the next one.