MSI Press Blog

  I used to think listening meant paying attention to words. My cat taught me otherwise. Cats speak in silences, in pauses, in the flick of an ear or the angle of a tail. They listen with their whole bodies — and expect you to do the same. Living with a cat is like living with a Zen master who never explains the lesson but expects you to learn it anyway. Here’s what mine taught me: Listen beyond language. A cat’s vocabulary is limited, but her communication is vast. I learned to hear tone, rhythm, and intention — the way she said mrrp when she was content versus mrrrp! when she was annoyed. It made me notice how much humans say without words too. Listen without interrupting. When a cat tells you something — hunger, affection, disapproval — she expects you to receive it fully before acting. I stopped finishing people’s sentences. I started letting silence do its work. Listen for what isn’t said. Cats withdraw when they’re hurt. They hide when they’re scared. I learned to ...

  Cats are not children — but they are astonishingly good at teaching you how to be with children. Mine certainly did. Somewhere between the “mwout” debates, the 3 a.m. hallway zoomies, and the silent stares that communicated entire paragraphs, I realized I was being trained. Thoroughly. And with great precision. Here are the lessons I didn’t know I needed: Patience is not optional. A cat will come when a cat is ready. So will a child. You can call, coax, plead, or offer treats, but the moment you stop hovering is the moment they appear. Boundaries are love in action. A cat who walks away is not rejecting you; they’re regulating themselves. Children do the same. Respecting space is part of respecting personhood. Affection has its own timing. Cats give affection in bursts — sudden, intense, and often when you’re busy. Children, too, have windows of connection. Miss them, and you wait for the next one. Routines matter more than rules. Feeding time, play time, quiet time — ...

  This excerpt comes from   How My Cat Made Me a Better Man  by Jeremy Feig. RELATIONSHIPS the approach Finding a date is similar to making new friends, but with a better chance you'll end up in bed together. A few guys are type-A personalities, able to effortlessly schmooze and dazzle the ladies. But for the majority of us, getting a date takes real effort. You have to deal with the anxiety and fear of rejection that come with asking a woman out. That's true whether it's in person or online. Because it can be just as nerve-wracking writing an email on a dating site as approaching a stranger in a club. Once you hit that send button, it's all out there. Women are lucky. They can pick and choose from all the guys with their hokey pickup lines and overabundance of cologne. That's because society, annoying presence that it is, says that men have to ask women out. So the pressure is all on you. And unless you put yourself out there, chances are you'll be going home a...