The Beauty and Bliss of My Soul Connection With Animals

“Experience has taught us that we have only one enduring weapon in our struggle against mental illness: the emotional discovery and emotional acceptance of the truth in the individual and unique history of our childhood.” ― Alice Miller, The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self

      This Chinese Proverb hits home for me, “Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”  Growing up in home riddled with mental illness and alcoholism, I got my basic security needs met through my seventy-five year old neighbor, who I considered my default grandpa. He was a gentle old fella who loved cats — he had five.  I’d visit him every night as he ate dinner while I played with the cats.  It was a place where I felt love – a place absent of violence and threats.  His home was filled with soft cats and unconditional love.  I must have acquired some semblance of competence and resilience from those in the community who took me in so freely without judgment. I saw that the human condition can be stable, kind and compassionate. But it was through the pets that I felt so truly loved, calmed and it was how I defined compassion in my world.  My best girlfriends and their families helped me rise above difficult circumstances, allowing me to exist in this less-than-perfect world, while encouraging me to move forward the best I could.  As Ben Okri so eloquently states, “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” For me I am nothing without my fuzzy friends.

 It is no secret that I was and still am quite the pet collector.  I’m a huge advocate for pet adoptions and I am an active promoter of no-kill rescue shelters. When I was young, if I came across a stray cat I’d beg my parents to keep it. My cat named Celery had four of the cutest little kittens that I couldn’t bear it to give them away. When I was told they needed to find a home I ran next door to my grandpa Lloyd’s home and asked if he’d be willing to take one or two. He saw the puppy-dog look in my eyes and he took them all! I believe having raised all those kittens helped me build a sense of resilience and is partly responsible for me being a less self-destructive teen as I could of been. Growing up when I needed support or tenderness it was the cats I turned to for unconditional love and joy.

Fast forward to my adulthood…When I was pregnant and felt like I had no control over what was happening to the baby inside me, it was the warmth of my cat Monkey and the sound of her purr that calmed me down until the birth. I can’t emphasize the power and healing factors cats have played in my life both as a child and as an adult. I must thank all my cats in my life-time for providing all the bliss I needed before I new how to find it myself: Snowball, Frisky tuna, Celery, Baby Girl, Blackie, Tiger, Scooter, Chauncey, Fiefel, Snick, Max, Monkey, DeeDee and Bailey. A few years ago we added two beagle mix puppies to our family, and they too provide amazing love for us all. I am forever grateful for the powerful role that pets play in our lives.

Organizations such as Heeling Allies privately trains Mental Health Service Dogs, Emotional Support Dogs and Skilled Companion Dogs that enrich the lives of individuals living with psychological, neurological and developmental impairments. Emotional Support Dogs provide therapeutic, physiological and psychological benefits to individuals with special needs.  Emotional Support Dogs can also benefit older adults by providing affection, companionship, emotional comfort and support, and encouraging physical activity.  

The American Psychological Association say pets can serve as important sources of social and emotional support for “everyday people,” not just individuals facing health challenges, according to research a study found, pet owners were just as close to important people in their lives as to their animals and that people relied more on pets when their human social support was poorer. Psychologists at Miami University and Saint Louis University conducted three experiments to examine the potential benefits of pet ownership among what they called everyday people. They observed evidence that pet owners fared better, both in terms of well-being outcomes and individual differences, than non-owners on several dimensions,” said lead researcher Allen R. McConnell, PhD, of Miami University in Ohio. “Specifically, pet owners had greater self-esteem, were more physically fit, tended to be less lonely, were more conscientious, were more extraverted, tended to be less fearful and tended to be less preoccupied than non-owners.”