Late last week and through the weekend I was fighting with a nasty sinus infection.
When I felt too lousy to work, I went and sat on a couch in the Lobby.
It didn’t matter which couch, because within 60 seconds, Morgan would gallop over and jump up next to me.

Yesterday and today I’ve surrendered to the infection and I’ve been home, feeling pretty sorry for myself, frankly.
And, while moping around, I thought about the fact that cats never seem to feel sorry for themselves (well, almost never).

I suspect we’ve all marveled at this feline characteristic and wished we could “have some of that.”
Just thinking of the Lobby cats, we have incurable cancer (2 cases), spina bifida, severe heart disease (2) and tracheal stricture.
Despite this panoply of diseases and infirmities, there is virtually no complaining (except when fresh food is late :-)).

Instead, we just have souls just “being,” living their lives.
Watching Morgan, I detect no feeling bad for himself, no “why did this happen to me?”

One could argue that cats’ brains don’t have the capacity to form these complex emotions.
These feelings seem to be the price we humans pay for having a complex brain, which allows us to do all kinds of amazing things.

Personally, I suspect that’s true.
But it doesn’t stop me from admiring cats’ equanimity and being jealous.
I have thought about this often and suspect that key to happiness lies therein.

I think the idea is captured well in the following quote (author unknown):

“Mind is a Good Servant but a very Bad Master.”