Every so often, I spot an article about the health benefits of having pets. Usually, it focuses on the relationship between pets and our physical health: “Dogs Improve Fitness, Taking Owners for Walk”, or “Cats Purr-fect for Calming Heart Rate, Says Semi-Scientific Study”.
These articles rarely discuss our furry friends’ impact on our mental and emotional health – why we find their presence so soothing. Over the years of sharing my time and my home with companion animals, I have come up with a few theories of my own.
Guileless
Unlike people, pets don’t have hidden agendas. Sure, they may be on a mission to masticate your favorite pair of sneakers, or bound and determined to break into the closet you have repeatedly declared off-limits. But they tend to be fairly out in the open about their activities and their intentions.
Human behavior is constrained by politeness and social conventions. Sometimes, this makes us less than forthright about our true motivations. To paraphrase Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem, Marmion, people weave tangled webs of deception. Untangling them is exhausting.
Pets are not bound by the dictates of human society. We can take their behavior at face value. We don’t need to worry about what lies beneath their actions, and this is refreshing.
A Sense of Timelessness
Pet Time: More “Meow” and “Bark” than “Tic” and “Toc”
Pets live in the present. When they get tired, they lie down and sleep. They don’t have a bedtime. They don’t set an alarm to avoid oversleeping.
They don’t have five-year plans, or even five-minute plans. They don’t obsess about the future.
Pets don’t dwell in the past. They don’t reminisce about the good old dog days of summer when winter comes around; they just find a warm place to curl up.
Pets have their own schedules, a rhythm of naps and food and playtime. Free of the responsibilities of making a living, the rhythm of their generic propecia fda days tends to be gentle—not rushed, not regimented. And this rhythm reminds us to relax, even when it seems like relaxation is impossible to cram into our overflowing agendas.
A Terrible Sense of Timing
Our pets’ priorities, so different from our own, provide a refreshing perspective which benefits our mental and emotional health.
Our animal companions are not concerned with our schedules, our chores, or our errands. When they want to be held, or brushed, or walked, or petted, they will let us know. Often, they will insist.
They snap us out of our stress and our multitasking. They yank us away from the thousands of thoughts racing endlessly around our brains.
The dog standing in front of us with his squeak toy in his mouth, or the cat flopped at our feet, brings our hectic lives to a brief but essential standstill: We realize that we do have a moment to sit quietly with a cat nestled in our laps. We have time to receive wet doggy kisses. And, in that moment, nothing else will matter but the connection we share. And we can breathe.
Without any words, we know we are loved…and we feel free to love back.
Back to Basics
Pets may understand our words, and they definitely understand our tone—but what they understand best of all is touch.
When our dog lays his front paws on our shoulders, or our cat nuzzles us, we don’t wonder about the significance of the touch. We don’t ponder what it means about the status of our relationship. Without any words, we know we are loved…and we feel free to love back.
No matter what other stresses we have in our lives, our pets remind us that love is the priority. So simple—and so easily forgotten in the frazzle of everyday life.
Living with companion animals has many benefits. Perhaps the greatest benefit is their ability to bring us back to our most basic needs: To touch, and to be loved.