Everything I Ever
Needed To Know,
I Learned From
My Cat
I thought this week I would expand on last week's topic where I suggested we could all Be More Viola. Here are Viola's rules to live by!
1. Ask for what you want. Loudly, repeatedly, and without shame.
If you are making your demands of those who love you, fully expect them to be invested in your welfare. Do not beg, wheedle, or guilt-trip. This is beneath you.
If you are making your demands of the Universe at large, stand in your power. It wants to give you everything. The biggest obstacles are knowing exactly what we want and believing it to be possible. Be patient and know that it is coming. Just like mealtime, it might not be entirely on your schedule.
If you are making your demands of those who don't honour you, don't honour them. Take your beautiful self elsewhere.
2. Take up space.
Take as much space as you need for your body to feel comfortable.
This may not work on subways, buses, trains, planes, in theatres, in cinemas, or anywhere someone else chooses what chair you get to sit in.
If necessary, refer to rule 1. If everyone truly demanded what they needed, seats on planes would not require bodygami.
3. Prioritise a work-nap balance.
You get tired for a reason. Your body needs to rest and recuperate from exertion, even mental - we're looking at you, video meetings - and especially from stress.
Make sure your busy schedule includes sufficient time for sleep. You know you need sleep, but it's good to review what we have to gain from shut-eye:
* Helps you have a positive mood; staves off depression, anxiety and irritability.
* Gives your heart and vascular system a chance to rest and repair; brings down blood pressure.
* Regulates insulin which means steadier blood sugar levels and reduces the risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
* Helps with memory and cognition.
* Restores your immune system.
* Helps with weight regulation.
4. Be passionate.
Whatever brings you joy, pounce on it with all four paws and roll in it.
Viola's passion is plastic bags. She gets in them, licks them, sometimes wears them as capes. She doesn't care what anyone else thinks about her love of bags, particularly her mom's worry she's getting high off the gases the plastic gives off.
She loves bags and no one is going to yuck her yum.
We all need more joy in our lives!
5. Honour your past but don't live there.
People seem to fall into two camps: those who revel in their "glory days" and those who are haunted by every embarrassment. Either way, it's not healthy to live in the past.
And if you look back on your younger self and feel estranged, well, when we grow, we change. When we change, we sometimes feel awkward about where we've been.
By tomorrow I will feel as though this post would have been better, if I'd known then what I know now.
Whatever younger you was like, they were doing the best they could with what they had, including information. So are you. And that perfect, eternal part of you lives in both.
I'm sure I've learned far more from Viola. Certainly more than she's learned from me. She is the boss, after all, and I'm just the intern. But these are the biggest lessons inspired by hundreds of accumulated photos.
If you have a pet, be sure to thank them for everything they've taught you.
Until next time, fly safely.
The Alchemist
