Paws and the tails of happiness : Life lessons from your dog and cat

Dogs and cats have conquered our hearts for countless reasons, the most important of these being our profound need to constantly look for ways to look at ourselves through different eyes. Nature’s eyes, our little friends’ eyes, look at us in such an innocent and pristine way, a way so deeply etched inside us that it moves and overwhelms us. It is in these eyes we see and recognize parts of our inner self. Animals, without realizing it – but we haven’t realized it either – have carried the tremendous burden of helping us understanding our self, and have succeeded where we have failed: in seeing humans as part of nature and paying attention to the life lessons nature offers. In the final analysis, maybe animals came into our lives for a reason: to show us the way of unity and reconciliation with nature, the way we must find again, this time with the help of our advanced intelligence. This is not a way back to the caves; it is a high path, the path of the soul. Maybe animals are here to show us who we are, which may mean that we can understand where we want to go. They are here to make us realize that we may be walking on our path alone, but not detached from all other forms of life; a path that the soul opens when it embraces the beings that are here with us, a path that leads to our true self giving life a new meaning. This is the path we walk together with our animals, which remind us that we are human, whatever that calls for.