{"id":9568,"date":"2023-06-29T14:27:21","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T13:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=9568"},"modified":"2023-06-30T17:05:17","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T16:05:17","slug":"happiness-the-rocky-roady-to-recovery-the-feline-feelgood-factor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=9568","title":{"rendered":"HAPPiNESS: The Rocky Roady to Recovery, & the Feline Feelgood Factor."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Bean enjoy\u2019s Chester\u2019s old bed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hannah recently sent me the above image. How heartwarming it is just to look upon a kitten sleeping. Why is that, I wonder? Still, who cares!? That it is is enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today I just got back from a counselling session with CGL, which stands for Change, Grow, Live. I\u2019ve been seeing a guy called Mark there most weeks, Thursday mornings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CGL specialise in supporting with people dealing with various addictions. I\u2019m not going to go into the gory details of my own struggles publicly. And to the extent I do go into it, at all, I\u2019ll try to keep it light and general (as opposed to heavy and specific!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today was a minor milestone of abstinence, and self-control. So a good day, really, I suppose. But my spirits are not feeling it<\/em> yet. I\u2019m as miserable – indeed more so, at times – as when I was deepest into any of my several addictive vices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m hoping that better feelings will follow, and grow stronger. We shall see, I guess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chesty McChesterfield! Living up to his name.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, after my session \u2018in therapy\u2019, I popped to Boyes, a down-market department store in March. I needed a belt, as my trews were literally fallun\u2019 doon! I got a ein<\/em> nice leder<\/em> one for \u00a310. Whilst there I also bought a light summer jacket, for \u00a330. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter purchase made me feel both happy, but also complicated, and even a bit sh*tty (read guilty), as I\u2019m stone cold broke. Mind, a single shift for Amazon Flex (once I have wheels again) will pay for it. So I\u2019m not that <\/em>bothered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I finally got home from CGL and the unplanned minor shopping spree, Chester greeted me with loudly plaintive meowing. He needs feeding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But rather than that occasional \u2018cupboard love\u2018, which sees the satiated moggy disappearing off through the cat flap, he frequently – and that includes today – follows up feeding with a clear request for companionship. Which is utterly adorable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So as he waited expectantly at my feet, I scooped him up and we had a completely wonderful 15 or 20 minutes of cuddles, purring, head-rubbing\/bumping, and all round good vibes. Chester, I love you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After about 10 minutes of this bliss, he decided he needed to have a bit of a groom. So he starts washing himself, still in situ, \u2018pon my chest. And \u2018pon my word, if watching him ablute didn\u2019t crack my face with a huge grin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I took a few pics of our boy, on my chest, living up to his name, and making me grin like the idiot I am. Another fab five minutes passed. And he finally decided that was enough; time to transfer himself to the more stable (in every conceivable sense!) support of our dining-table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now, about an hour later, I\u2019m still sat in the easy-chair. And he\u2019s still softly sleeping beside me. Sometimes his breathing is near enough silent. At others I can follow the rise and fall, the in-takes and out-breaths. And it\u2019s mesmerisingly meditative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Pishy, and Domino, in childhood, to Tigger, and now Chester, in adult life, the cutely curmudgeonly company of cats has been a more or less constant part of \u2018being\u2019 for me (save only the barren interlude of college and after). And what a beautiful part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benedictions \u2018pon ye furry critters, say I!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2764\ufe0f \ud83d\udc3e \ud83d\udc08\u200d\u2b1b \u2764\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some time later\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further furry fun: Chester is oscillating between cute lap-cat and frightening ball of teeth \u2018n\u2019 claws! I got a few pics of him in the former of the two modes just now, just before eating dinner in the evening sunshine, dans le jardin<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I love having him in this position; partly on his back, legs akimbo! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the above photo, if you look carefully, you\u2019ll see that his right fore-paw is actually gripping the first finger of my left hand (quite tightly!). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hannah recently sent me the above image. How heartwarming it is just to look upon a kitten sleeping. Why is that, I wonder? Still, who cares!? That it is is enough. Today I just got back from a counselling session with CGL, which stands for Change, Grow, Live. I\u2019ve been seeing a guy called Mark … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “HAPPiNESS: The Rocky Roady to Recovery, & the Feline Feelgood Factor.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paGwUa-2uk","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9568"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9568"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9583,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9568\/revisions\/9583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}