Sunny is a yellow longhaired tabby and his name is short for “Sunny Disposition”, “Sunny Outlook”, “Sunshine”. That pretty well explains him. However like the cat in the previous post, Sunny is a long-haired whose brain protein went to make fur instead.

I have seen this cat stalking birds at the bird bath many times however he only runs up to the bird bath after the birds have flown away. I really don’t think that he realizes the bird is no longer there. Or maybe he is like Garfield and is only chasing the birds to let us know he is on the ball and doing his job but like Garfield with the mice, they are really his friends and he doesn’t want to harm them. No, he is not smart enough to think that through. We have a cat door and shoved this cat through it many times but he still did not get it. It took him 6 months before he figured it out.

Sunny may be dingy but unlike the cat in the previous post as he is not a scaredy-cat. He is too dumb to be scared. His incapacity to be afraid has actually served him well. When one of our other cats decides to make him the object of her attack and she springs on him, Sunny either doesn’t notice and she has to embarrassingly turn and slink away or he just looks at her like “what, what’s going on”. Whenever she stalks one of our other cats, either a fight (usually in the form of a hissy fit) ensues or the other cat takes off and the chase is on ending in a mild catfight. (Why can’t they just get along)?

Maybe we could learn from this. In the previous post we saw that fear dumbs us down, keeps us from learning. While in this post we see that lack of fear (even in those considered unintelligent) can be a saving grace.

We as humans can accomplish so much more when we get past the fear. It is the fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of being different or even the fear of being the same and being lost in the crowd that keeps us from greatness. Each of us has the potential for great accomplishments, some of us in a more low-keyed, behind the scene way than others. Meridian Tapping is a great way to get past the fear. It has helped me tremendously. I am not the same person I was 3 years ago or even 1 year ago. It can help you too.

In my experience, longhaired cats are ditzy. I am sure there are exceptions and you may comment about some, but the only ones I have known that were not ditzy were purebred Persians. I am not saying long haired cats are not loveable or sweat natured or fun to be around. I am saying the ones I have owned or known have not been real sharp. My husband explains it as all the protein that should have gone to make brains went to make fur instead.

We had a gray longhaired cat, Daneel, that was real dingy. As you walked across the room, he would run right under your feet. His fear of being stepped on was causing him to be stepped on.

While we owned him we moved to the country, right into the territory of another cat that was the spitting image of Daneel. This cat was wild and fought like a wild cat while Daneel was a scaredy-cat. I always knew when the wild cat was outside as Daneel would tear through the house and hide under the bed.

We had another cat at the same time, Barney, who was very intelligent and could not stand Daneel. Barney would pick on him. Daneel was an easy fight for Barney. However, Barney could not see real well and his sense of smell was off due to a car accident years ago. When we moved to this new property, Barney never saw the wild cat and Daneel at the same time and would constantly pick on the wild cat like he would Daneal, but this wild cat would not take any lip and promptly tore into him.

After having to take Barney to the vet for the 3rd time to be patched up we decided it was time to relocate the wild thing. We caught him in a live animal trap and took him to some property I owned 100 miles away. We left him there with a large bag of cat food and large pan of water so he could get by for a day or two till he found the ponds and the rats. After wild-thing’s removal, Barney and Daneel became the best of buddies. It was like Barney had new respect for Daneel. That wildcat was like Daneel’s alter ego (or so Barney thought) and the two combined in Barney’s mind to create one cat that Barney could respect.

Daneel had one short coming that would still upset Barney. When Daneel was being petted, he would get ecstatic, squirm and drool. Barney would get disgusted and come over and give Daneel a swat as if to say, “Get a hold of yourself”.

I my eyes, Daneel’s one major shortcoming that made him appear so dumb was his fear. I have trained cats before (don’t let anyone tell you they can not be trained) but in working with Daneel, he was too afraid to be able to pay attention.

I apply this to humans a lot. Fear is so detrimental; it keeps us from learning, from trying, from doing something different. If we did not have fear we could do so much more with our lives. Just like Daneel, fear keeps us from living our lives to the fullest.

I have used Meridian Tapping to help me overcome a lot of fear in my life. Give it a try for yourself. www.naturallyresilient.com