I am thankful for my cat (and other things)

My alarm clock has fur. I am thankful for the gentle tap of my cat’s paw on my nose when it’s time to get up. I put food in his bowl, make coffee and start the morning, which includes some cuddling time with him. He’s 13 years old and quite the snuggler. He has a very loud purr that reverberates in me, too. After all these years, we know each other’s ways. When he sits with me, he puts one paw across my arm in what I call “the paw of possession.” We both know who is whose.

I could fill my allotted word count with cat anecdotes, but I better move on, especially for my non-cat readers.

What I am thankful for can easily fill more than this column. I will highlight a few things. See if you also see the connection.

I am thankful for color. I enjoy the variety of pastels in my boxes or the paints on a palette. I enjoy how colors sit next to each other on a canvas. Light and dark, warm and cool, color vibrates with energy and expresses emotion.

I enjoy the blues, greens, yellows and browns that surround us this time of year. When the sky is clear, as it has been lately, it provides a vibrant backdrop. We don’t have the autumn colors of the Northeast, but there are many shades of color you can notice.

One of my art teachers taught me this trick. Look straight up and squint. Notice that shade of blue. Keep squinting and gradually move your gaze down to the horizon. See how many shades of blue you can identify. I think I started with seeing three. If I am careful, I can now see about seven.

I am thankful for music, especially singing. I am not a soloist. I am more of a backup singer. That is fine with me. The other role is too much pressure. In the 1960s, I fantasized about wearing an evening gown, providing harmony and doing the moves like the women in the girl groups of that era. In the end, that was not the career path I chose.

When I am tired and I have to work hard at choir rehearsal to learn music and follow the director’s cues, I still always feel better when the rehearsal ends. Lighter somehow. Being with my friends in the choir is part of it, but there is something more.

As I was thinking about the three categories of things I am thankful for, I wondered if there was a common thread. Every morning, I read the posts by “Daily Om.”

On Nov. 20, there it was.

When we hum, chant, or sing, the vibrations travel through the chest and throat, stimulating the vagus nerve — the body’s main pathway for calm and connection. This resonance ripples through us like a tide washing up on shore, softening tension, deepening breath, and gently quieting the mind. It’s these moments that bring us back to total in-the-moment-ness catalyzing a whole new way of being and doing in the world.

Cat purrs vibrate.

The energy waves in color vibrate visually.

Singing (humming or chanting) vibrates in the body, bringing a natural sense of calm.

Since I am of a certain age, I immediately associated with a song by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys:

I-I love the colorful clothes she wears

And the way the sunlight plays upon her hair

I hear the sound of a gentle word

On the wind that lifts her perfume through the air

I'm pickin' up good vibrations …

Brian Wilson got it! Good vibrations are their own natural healing medicine. His good vibrations were from the beauty of a woman to whom he was attracted and possibly some additional substances. For the rest of us, the vibrations themselves contribute calming energy. Humming and chanting have been a part of ancient spiritual practices from humanity’s earliest times.

Whether you celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving or don’t celebrate at all, the practice of noticing what you are thankful for is its own blessing. Thankfulness requires noticing. When you notice what you are thankful for, you may notice connections that have always been there but have been just below your awareness. 

Life is too short and too precious to miss out on these good vibrations.