Zen and the art of Cat Therapy

Jennifer Payne | September 22nd, 2017

Zen and the art of Cat Therapy
We spend most of our time working…constantly on the move and barely making time to ‘stop and smell the roses.’ It’s an old saying, but unfortunately not a new problem we all seem to battle.

Typically we look to have fun outside of work life; but it’s equally important to have fun with the people you spend the majority of your time with day in and day out. Moreover, just as we deliberately plan our personal fun-time, I believe we should be more deliberate in our attempts to ‘stop and smell the roses’ at work and with colleagues.

These fun events don’t need to be elaborate nor do they need to take a lot of work to plan.

Here’s one example of a recent fun outing we had, and although small it was very rewarding for everyone involved (including the cats):

I heard that a Cat Cafe had recently opened in our home town of Santa Barbara, CA. Being a cat owner, I was super excited about this, as were other office cat lovers.  Cat Therapy exists for a few reasons: to play with dozens of cats (helping socialize them and make them more adoptable), reduce your stress and put a smile on your face, with the final hope that you fall in love and apply to adopt one. Since this opportunity popped up, I thought Jaime might enjoy taking a break and hanging out with some kitty cats since he doesn’t have one to go home to (tear).

As Cat Therapy reminds us:

It is like totally scientifically proven impossible to be in a bad mood inside Cat Therapy.

These experiences, even just for a short amount of time (less than 2 hours for us) are good for the soul.  However, after our session I think they miss named Cat Therapy…they should call it Human Therapy. Here’s the proof:

Playful kitten

This little bugger had so much energy…and look at that smile on Jaime’s face!

Michael bringing his calm love for cats to this kool kat named Honey. We were happy to hear she was recently adopted.

Look at this cutie! Ok, this is our cat and not one from Cat Therapy, but couldn’t resist sneaking this one in. See what I did there?

Jaime found and a new buddy. Black cats are bad luck? I think not.

We were told there was a very shy cat hiding in the cubes, so we took on the challenge of trying to get her to come out. Slightly successful…hehe…it felt good to give her some much needed attention.

Have any fun events you’d like to share? Please comment below, we’d love to hear about them. We’re always looking for new ideas.

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A collection of useful tips, tales and opinions based on decades of collective experience designing and developing web sites and web-based applications.

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Intervals is online time, task and project management software built by and for web designers, developers and creatives.
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John Reeve
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John Reeve

John is a co-founder, web designer and developer at Pelago. His blog posts are inspired by everyday encounters with designers, developers, creatives and small businesses in general. John is an avid reader and road cyclist.
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Jennifer Payne
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Jennifer Payne

Jennifer is the Director of Quality and Efficiency at Pelago. Her blog posts are based largely on her experience working with teams to improve harmony and productivity. Jennifer is a cat person.
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Michael Payne
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Michael Payne

Michael is a co-founder and product architect at Pelago. His contributions stem from experiences managing the development process behind web sites and web-based applications such as Intervals. Michael drives a 1990 Volkswagen Carat with a rebuilt 2.4 liter engine from GoWesty.
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