Written and verified by the psychologist GetPersonalGrowth.
Last update: 15 November 2021
I like people who suddenly find out what it means to have a dog or a cat. It is a pleasure to see when they fall surrendered to these new companions, to these pets that revolutionize, almost without knowing how, their entire personal universe.
Loving animals happens almost without realizing it and this change, this step that many people take when entering a world of spontaneous emotions, games, companies and smiles, means a reformulation of new values ​​and new internal discoveries.
People who understand and value having an animal have a special nobility. It is admirable their ability to offer affection and care, to be more patient and responsible, because we want it or not, we must all learn from them: pets.
The way in which dogs integrate as family members (their pack) or the ability of cats to show their respect and affection with sincere and immense looks is something that we should all learn to value.
Life with animals makes us better people
It is absolutely not a question of defending the idea that anyone who does not love animals or simply does not want to share his time and space with them is a bad person. Absolutely. Actually, it's simpler: an animal can, at a given moment, offer us many things we need.
Curiously, if we refer to the etymological root of word "animal", we will see that it actually derives from anima or animus, or the one who possesses anima or breath of life.
In the folklore of many countries, moreover, there is no shortage of stories that tell of dogs and cats in the guise of guiding spirits of humanity; entity whose purpose is to take care of us and guide us.
In any case, the way in which they are able to change us is evident, the world in which they bring us the pleasure of applying new strategies with which to enjoy a fuller life.
- Introducing a dog into a senior's life, for example, equips him with the need to adopt new routines, new schemes and obligations. It will force him to open up to the world, increase positive reinforcements through the emotions of a sincere company that relieves loneliness and through the daily activity with which to fight a sedentary lifestyle.
- Few things can be as healthy as a child growing up in the company of his pets. They help him to be patient, respectful, to establish a union in which the value of gestures and affections is greater than words.
- To us, adults, they give that love that at times seems so strange to us: an affection offered in exchange for nothing, which does not know resentment, which forces us to live in the "here and now", in which it is not worth postponing a walk or a caress; in which shared naps are moments of grateful complicity, in which we forgive pranks and love to have them close, like one of the family.
Animals show us that we deserve their love
It doesn't matter if you are tall or short, if you forget your friends' birthdays or if you prefer a rainy afternoon to a day at the beach. Animals don't judge us by our beliefs, our physical appearance or political beliefs. Animals are only concerned with emotions.
The person who shares life, spaces and moments with his dogs or cats knows that he deserves the affection of his pet. And it is so for the simple fact of existing, because love that offers itself without concessions and with a pure soul is a love based on happiness.
People loved by their pets are simply so because they offer them what they need: belonging to a home, attention, care, love ... their needs are very similar to ours.
They too need roots, belonging to a home and having members to defend and love. We are their pack, their family, their microcosm. Understanding all of this enriches us and helps us to be better, simply because for them we automatically deserve to be in their heart.
Images courtesy of Sharon Carlz, ErickB, Carl Brown
