Wednesday, July 27, 2011

GET A PET


6 Reasons Pets are Good For you

by Dr. Jennifer Freed Author of LESSONS FROM STANLEY THE CAT

1)Pets demonstrate unfettered and unconditional Love Pets demonstrate loyalty and caring without the complication of motives and secret agendas. Feeling loved by a pet boosts the mood and the attitude. When you have had a loss, or a depressing day, pets are there to remind you that there is love and goodness in the world.

2) Pets provide empathy for your pain. Most pets are experts in sensing when you are emotionally hurt or upset and they will soothe you. A dog may lick you. A cat will saddle up next to you.

A bird will coo. Pets have an uncanny ability to sense human suffering and try to alleviate it.

3) Pets provide an outlet for affection. Humans need touch and contact or they wither. Pets allow humans to safely express affection and have daily and consistent "petting". This has proven to reduce stress and anxiety.

4)Pets teach people how to get out of their head and into their hearts. Humans spend far too much time worrying and fretting. It has become increasingly hard to be present to the delightful moment at hand. Pets are masters of the present tense. They teach us how to drop in to the sensory moment at hand and lose the preoccupations of the frenetic modern mind.

5) Taking care of pets gets us off our butts. Obesity and sedentary living is a huge problem in our country and pets give us reasons to move. Whether it is taking the dog for a walk, or changing the litter box, or riding the horse, pets require some activity. Activity based on caring for a creature who is dependent on us brings out our altruistic side of our brain and reduces the tendencies in all of us to be self centered. When we take care of innocent others we learn to activate healthy compassion.

6) Pets engage our sense of humor. That is why some of the top rated youtube videos are humorous pet videos. Nothing makes us smile and laugh more than the antics of pets. Laughing is known to boost the immune system and increase the quality of life.

GET HEALTHY! GET A PET!

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