Are You Like a Cat with a Humidifier?
Are You Like a Cat with a Humidifier?
I was. Sometimes I still am. But at least now I'm aware of the habit and when I do it.
Here's how it all happened…
One day I was sitting and watching my little black cat, Luna, sitting and watching the humdifier.
(Catch that? I was sitting and watching her sitting and watching it. You can tell where this is going, right?)
Waiting…
Waiting for a bubble to pop up.
Everytime it bubbled she would pounce. And whap the humidifier. And generally show it who was boss.
Except that it's a humidifier and didn't care about Luna's authoritative whapping.
And I was sitting there all smug, thinking, "Silly little cat with your silly little brain. All that effort and focus and it's totally on the wrong thing. It's not going to get you where you want to go."
I confess, it made me feel better to feel superior to my cat.
Except that she is a cat. And I am a human.
She doesn't have a purpose. She doesn't have a plan. Stalking the humdifier is just as valid as any other activity for her once her basic needs are met. Which they are.
But I'm a human.
I have a passion. I have a purpose. I have a business and a family and friends and…
What the heck was I doing watching a cat watch a humidifer?
My unconscious mind can feed me some pretty great 'Aha!' moments when I'm paying attention and here is one I won't forget:
I was like a cat with a humidifier.
I was spending my days sitting on my computer watching Facebook and watching my email.
Waiting.
Waiting for a new email or a new post.
Waiting for a new bubble so that I could jump at it – whap whap whap!
But at the end of the day I wasn't feeling more accomplished or better about myself or further ahead on my business.
I was busy but I wasn't being effective. I wasn't moving toward my goal.
I was like a cat with a humidifier.
How embarrassing.
Am I alone in this? Anyone else out there do the same thing sometimes?
It's okay. We're only human.
And because we are human we can learn and improve and not make the same mistakes today that we made yesterday.
So now I turn off email and Facebook when I'm working and I actually USE the PARTY Goal Getting System™ (you can get it in the Circle) which has me focus on my top priorities for the day.
Now, if I want to watch humidifier bubbles, I make sure I've done what needs to be done so that I can relax and be unproductive intentionally and in peace and not feel guilty at the end of the day.
After all, sometimes it's fun to chase after bubbles.
— Vanessa
(Apology Alert: The cute photo I had of Luna with the humidifier has gone AWOL. I can't find it anywhere. I promise I'll take another one this winter and get it up asap. Sorry about that!)
Vanessa Long
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