{"id":1996,"date":"2020-03-07T06:32:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-07T14:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/?p=1996"},"modified":"2020-03-07T06:32:17","modified_gmt":"2020-03-07T14:32:17","slug":"oliver-the-cat-aka-meditation-guru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/?p=1996","title":{"rendered":"Oliver the Cat, AKA, Meditation Guru"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oliver the\nCat is a meditation expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year and a half ago I stumbled on a book by ABC newsman Dan Harris.\u00a0 The title is 10% Happier.\u00a0 I\u2019m not entirely <\/em>sure Dan would agree, but here is my summary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrogant news reporter loses his mind and becomes a crazy drug addict.\u00a0 After he hits rock bottom, a counsellor suggests he try meditation.\u00a0 Dan thinks the idea is even crazier than being a crazy drug addict, but out of desperation, gives it a shot. Low and behold, it cures him.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan is a skeptic.\u00a0 He\u2019s not into any religious aspects of mediation.\u00a0 However, Dan is BIG TIME into the scientific research on meditation.\u00a0 And the research is as clear as a Baccarat crystal vase that meditation provides demonstrable benefits.\u00a0 They include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reducing\nstress<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lessening\nanxiety<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Increasing\nattention span<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And freshening breath.\u00a0 (Okay<\/em>, I was required to add this last one to meet “Humor-column Union” requirements. You don’t want to mess with those union thugs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I decided to\ntry meditation.  And guess what?  I take the oath to become a Buddhist monk tomorrow.  Just kidding! \nBut, seriously, I do believe I\u2019ve benefited.  I think it\u2019s helped me remain calm in\nstressful situations, be more focused, and helped regenerate the hair on my\nbald spot.  Okay, sadly, my bald spot continues\nto  shine like an aircraft beacon, but I have<\/em>\nnoticed the first two benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many types of meditation \u00ad\u2013 Basic breath meditation, \u201cLoving kindness\u201d meditation, \u201cMantra\u201d meditation, and Naked meditation.\u00a0 Okay, I\u2019ve never ACTUALLY heard of Naked meditation, but I\u2019m sure some free soul is out there meditating au naturel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most\ncommon method of meditation is breath meditation.  You sit comfortably in a position where your\nspine is relatively straight, and you focus your mind on your breathing.  Whenever your mind starts to wander (which it\nwill try to do every nano second) you simply bring your mind back to your\nbreath.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, please do not attempt to get your meditation advice from me.\u00a0 People have been practicing meditation for thousands of years, and I\u2019ve been dabbling for 18 months.\u00a0 So, what I\u2019m saying is, if you take your meditation instruction from me, you\u2019re as crazy as Dan Harris back when he was on the pipe.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver\u2019s problem is that he\u2019s only ten inches high.\u00a0 Try as he might, he simply cannot reach the doorbell.\u00a0 This means that Oliver spends hours crouched down staring blankly at the door waiting for it to open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I routinely open the door and find him sitting there frozen.\u00a0 It takes him a moment to \u201ccome to\u201d and race through the door.\u00a0 So, it\u2019s become clear to me.\u00a0 THIS CAT IS MEDITATING!\u00a0 He meditates for hours and hours each week. AND<\/em>, he\u2019s ten times better at it than me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My point is this \u0336   Oliver meditates on a regular basis, and he is, at the very least<\/em>, 10% happier than I am.  In fact, Oliver and Dan Harris really should co-write another book.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for Reading! Please take a moment to SHARE and COMMENT!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oliver the Cat is a meditation expert. A year and a half ago I stumbled on a book by ABC newsman Dan Harris.\u00a0 The title is 10% Happier.\u00a0 I\u2019m not entirely sure Dan would agree, but here is my summary: Arrogant news reporter loses his mind and becomes a crazy drug addict.\u00a0 After he hits […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[892,890,766,888,889,891,767,887,885,893],"class_list":["post-1996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","tag-10-happier","tag-abc-dan-harris","tag-cat-humor","tag-cat-meditation","tag-dan-harris","tag-dan-harris-10-happier","tag-funny-cat","tag-meditating-cat","tag-meditation","tag-ten-percent-happier"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1996"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2003,"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1996\/revisions\/2003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}