Listen To Wind

The following is from my book Share My Insanity (release date – Autumn 2011) and was written maybe 2004 (I take years to write a book). It is dedicated to my beloved cat, Ganesh. May he rest in peace. He was the most joyous being I ever met. “Look, wow, isn’t it amazing? I have a tail. Wow, look, I have a paw. Whoo hoo, I knocked over a vase, isn’t the water running from it cool? Wow, Francesca’s mad at me for spilling all that water, cool!”  His joy was a gift to me and my other cat Teenie. And with that: 

The tale below illustrates the beneficence of the jumble, tumble, and bumble of life’s events.

Recently, at about 11 p.m., I decided to proof some typing. Ganesh, my cat, started meowing—that awful, loud, and insistent yowling that cats know drives you to distraction. Sure enough, I couldn’t concentrate. I chased him off repeatedly, to no avail.

Finally, I said to my older cat, Teenie—Ganesh is, let’s say, college freshman age—”Would you please take care of him for a while so I can work?” (Ignore the fact that I talk to cats.) Teenie came over to my table and—oh, lawd—promptly settled down onto the document I was trying to correct, completely covering it.

I looked at her and thought, Okay, I surrender!

I should’ve known better than to try to work when one of my cats was interfering. They do it for my own good when I need a break but am workaholically plugging away.

A friend expressed it perfectly when I called to tell her this true-life parable: We need to listen to our betters.

Sometimes, those superior beings are pets, but myriad other forms can manifest. For example, another time the wind may whip a hat off because it looks silly, thus sparing you a fashion gaffe. A superior being might also be the god within you, who’s telling you to do something other than what you are engaged in right then.

Whatever those helpful entities and traits are, they’re often part of life’s beneficent chaos—chaos that we resist, thinking we need to cling to some everything’s-in-its-right-place-and-time plan, and/or some “appropriate” order we imagine to be the underpinning of happiness and even of life itself. Sometimes, of course, it is good to cling to order, and there is an orderliness to the cosmos that guides us, nurtures us, and sets us free. Chaos, too, however, is one of life’s underpinnings, and not always a bad one. Often it acts like my cats, lovingly guiding us to the happiest possible conditions. Besides, chaos is simply part of the order that we can’t see the logic to. Doesn’t mean it’s not there. When the chaos of life interferes with our plans, it reflects a truer plan, one in accord with our real—but possibly ignored or even unknown—needs and longings. Nanao Sakaki, the renowned poet, said, “Listen to wind.” And me, I’ll also listen to cats. An odd form of Divine guidance? Odd is good.
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If you enjoyed this excerpt, Share My Insanity portrays my chaotic life as a mystic and just plain ol’ human, in-depth. Available on Amazon.

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6 Responses to Listen To Wind

  1. Ellen says:

    I can so *#!??!!!*# relate right now! Cleo, the BLACK cat that I got to keep Tony (tiger kitty) company is frustrating the *!*!*! out of me right now! And yes, she knocked over the freakin vase of flowers, spilling water all over my altar, just night before last. And she looks right at me as she does it! Or jumps up on the kitchen counter! And the instant i put her back on the floor, she looks right at me and jumps up to the exact same spot! Infuriating! And I scream out curse words in the middle of the night as yet another thing crashes to the floor! !*!*!!!!! And yes, I do sense there is a message in all of this. And yes, my altar IS dirty and having to take everything off to mop up the water with a towel DID result in a cleaner altar. And yes, if I actually DO my dishes, then there isn’t anything for her to knock off… but DAMN! 🙂

    • francesca says:

      LOL! And it make me feel special that, after I told you stories – – in classes and e-newsletters et al – – about cats teaching me lessons, you started sharing your cat lesson tales with me and with folks on the Faerie Nation list! That feels good!!

      • Ellen says:

        Last night when I got home she had knocked the PLASTIC squirt bottle that use to spray her with when she misbehaves off the counter onto the floor… AND BROKE IT! A plastic bottle! Snapped the spray head right off! All I could do was laugh. She really is very smart 🙂

        And thank you, Francesca 🙂 xoxo

  2. Sandra says:

    ~*WoW. I really needed to read this, Francesca. I can’t even verbalize how much right this minute, but I’m grateful for you taking the time for the reminder. Yay, Truth!

    Love,
    ~*Sandra

    • francesca says:

      hi, thanks 4 support!!!!! Much needed! I tell this story in one of my classes, MAYBE the “Gaia, Myth, Body, FAerie” class. I may have also put it in a newsletter a few years back. So u might’ve heard it b4, which all the more makes it a reminder. Um, WAY dumb joke!

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