Do you have a journaling cat? We have one that teaches the other cats how to scratch out their feelings like they are typing on a typewriter! The sound is very similar and very heartwarming to the highly sensitive writer in me.
Our highly sensitive tuxedo cat named Lucky gets startled easily, and hides from most sounds and all guests. But she is also the most compassionate, loving being that will sit on your lap like an Egyptian, protecting you and healing you with her very high performance motor-like purr.
Whenever she runs off after being startled or to avoid something, she heads straight to her scratching pad. It sounds so much like frantic typing, I usually make up voice-overs like, "Dear Diary, you will never guess what just happened!" She "types" as fast as I do and could be a contender to steal away my high school "#1 In Lake County" typing trophy! She puts so much emotion into it. I wish I could play the sound for you here!
As with any highly sensitive soul, it helps to express your feelings any way that you can. If you can talk it out with someone that is great, but if you cannot - then writing it down, typing it or even "scratching it out" will help tremendously! (Hmmm, is that why humans call notes "scratch paper"?)
Writing down my worries or ponderings is what I do before bed. It gets the thoughts out of my head and written down to deal with later if necessary. Otherwise, I find the words just bounce around inside my head and keep all of the parts of my brain firing like a pinball machine when the ball hits the bumpers... "Ping, ping, bing-bing, ping, uggh, just go to sleep little words!"
Animal companions are experts at listening and sometimes their expressions and responses are exactly what you need to feel heard. They don't judge, they just listen, loving you no matter what you say! They help you process by allowing those feelings to come out of you, whether or not you speak them or just breathe them out.
They also seem to remove negative energy when they "knead us" by gently pulling and pushing on our bodies - like a massage therapist, allowing us to relax and release what doesn't serve us. Maybe they even carry that over to transfer that to the scratching posts to let it out, in their own processing way.
Animals understand, have great compassion and can help you release all of that stress. They are amazing empaths that know just how to transmute that energetic debris and allow it to dissipate and go back to Mother Earth as harmless ions that can be recycled back into love.
Perhaps cats using the scratching cardboard is like how humans use a typewriter. In their own way, they could be expressing emotions and documenting their day, helping them to release. Or, they may have their own stories to tell! Makes me wonder if the cats are my muse, or I am theirs! Oh, the stories they could be typing! I like to imagine all of them, and someday will write one!
In the meantime, I need to go play with silly cat...
Tami is grateful for all of her Highly Sensitive Person traits because they have made her who she is today: an optimistic, nurturing soul, full of great compassion. Being a mother has been her hardest and most rewarding job since her unique and sensitive children have been her greatest inspiration and teachers. She is currently writing a series of children’s books for HSP families, The Sunshine Books. Follow this blog for more of her heartfelt ponderings about her life and love for children and animals.
{Copyright 2019 - 2021 - Most photos are the property of Tamara S. Graham unless noted otherwise}