Animals as Inspiration

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened" Anatole France

I never cease to be amazed at how loving an animal has changed me. I'm crazy about dogs and have always considered myself a "dog person," but fell hard for cats, too sometime around 1997 when I adopted Noah and Clement. How much I grew to love them is still kind of a revelation to me.

Crazy this very real bond that exists between species who don't speak the same language, but grow to love and know one another beyond words. I just know this, I'm a different person than I was before I loved an animal.

I'm not sure if there's a direct link between loving an animal and creativity, but I think the tenderness and silliness they awaken in a person can certainly contribute to it, or at least set the tone. Tenderness, silliness, fascination, vulnerability - these are all things that animals bring out in a person. And I sense I'm more likely to trying something new, to be open to trying, when I'm feeling that way. Cats and dogs (and ferrets and gerbils, I imagine) just are - there's no pretense and no agenda (unless we're talking food). Even their guile seems guileless - hey, they just want what they want. That in and of itself - the ability to just be and then be some more - is pretty inspiring to me.