Sunday, February 7, 2010

willpower

Some people come wired with strong amount of willpower. I am not one of those people, thus I am subject to making emotional in the moment decisions rather than sticking to the plan.

Willow seems to know this about me and she frequently tries to exploit this weakness. The cats each get one third of a cup of dry nuggets twice a day. Nahum and Theo wolf them all down with great gusto. Willow likes to take her time and spread her meal out over several hours. She makes frequent trips to her bowl gobbling down a few nuggets each time. Sadly, her style of eating is not very compatible with Nahum and Theo, who will gladly eat all her nuggets in her absence.

A few hours after her nuggets have been depleted, she starts working me over. She lays by her bowl and makes herself look as though she is about to expire - a horrible fate that could easily be avoided if only I would give her a few nuggets. So, I admit, sometimes I sneak her just a few nuggets to get her through another couple of hours.

Trouble is, she is kind of pudgy. Some of that may be do to the medication she has to take for her asthma. Yet, it could also have something to do with all the extra bits of nuggets she often gets.

How do I resist giving her something she so desperately wants? Cognitively, I know she doesn't need them and my giving them to her actually hurts her and yet, her expression of dire misery so often yields nuggets.

As a kitty parent, Willow needs me to be strong in my ability to resist her manipulative ways. This is my challenge - to love well by being willing to disappoint and trusting that it is for the greater good. Willow gives me many opportunities to practice strengthening my willpower.

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