Monday, July 2, 2012

TWELVE HABITS

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey has absolutely nothing on Twelve Habits of Highly Successful Cats & Their Humans by Dulcy & Dee Ready.


After all, Covey isn't channeling the thinking of a superior being; that is, he doesn't work with a cat named Dulcy as Dee Ready does. 


Dee Ready will not accept compliments for "her" writing because she's absolutely certain she is able to write because she channels Dulcy's words. So be it. Normally, I would say pish posh to such a belief, but if Dee Ready says something, then I know it's true.


I don't know how I can give any higher compliment to Dulcy and Dee than to say there is a purity in their writing that I rarely see. As I always tell friends and students about my beloved The Great Gatsby by F. Cat Scott Fitzgerald, it's lyrical and it doesn't have a single wasted word. I have exactly the same feeling about the gentle and loving Twelve Habits.

Each habit has a section by Dulcy intended for cats and kits. Then Dee adds how the habit has affected her life.

The habits include "Discover Your Heartwish," "Listen With An Open Heart," and "Share Your True Heart."

When Dee's second cat and Dulcy's companion, Bartleby, dies, Dulcy misses his friendship, but her heartwish has come true: Dee is now a one-person cat.

As Dulcy writes in "Grieve Your Losses": After his death, I rested on his grave each day and keened my love:


Gentle you are, unassuming
--artlessly sleeping and grooming.
Gracious you are, always purring
--kindness and companions preferring.
Gladness you are in your being
--beauty and bliss from your springing.
Gone; still your memory delighting,
--your love for us ever abiding.


Dee, in her section, then writes: Many people practice the stiff upper lip when they lose someone to change or to death. They can never let themselves mourn their loss . . . . A dream, a heartwish, can dissolve in the reality of daily-ness. A belief can fail to meet the needs of our growing experience.


I felt an especially strong connection to Dee's reaction at Bartleby's death; it brought back the death of my beloved Collie, Faulkner. I shed tears of sadness and joy over Dee's feelings about Bartleby. I grieved, and I still grieve the loss of The Dog of My Life. Dulcy and Dee's beauty brings him and his love back to me.


You can purchase Twelve Habits of Highly Successful Cats & Their Humans by Dulcy and Dee Ready at amazon.com in paperback or for your kindle: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_15?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=twelve+habits+of+highly+successful+cats+and+their+humans&sprefix=twelve+habits+o%2Cstripbooks%2C321.

You can also click on the image of the book on Dee Ready's blog at coming home to myself to make your purchase. The paperback is only $6.88. I strongly recommend purchasing a copy for yourself and several others as gifts for cat loving friends.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

















































































































16 comments:

  1. I just had a dream about my kitty last night and almost woke up crying again...although I was putting makeup on her for some strange reason, it was still good to see her again!

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    1. Maggie, That is so sweet. Did she look good with mascara?

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    2. For some silly reason, I didn't put any mascara on her, just horribly dark brown eye shadow that I kept trying to blend to make it look natural. I was getting frustrated because I knew she needed to leave me and I didn't want her to look like a whore! ...it was still oddly touching though..

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    3. I promise she didn't look like a whore. I just know it -- somehow.

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  2. Dear Janie, thank you for this lovely review. It is so heartfelt in your sharing of your own grief for your beloved canine companion. Just as I felt about the deaths of Bartleby and Dulcy.

    I'm sure that Dulcy did channel our story through me. I know that I do the blog writing and other manuscripts on which I'm working, but even then I think she'd on the bookshelf behind me, whispering the right word or the next scene in the story.

    Peace.

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    1. Dee, It's always a pleasure to review something you write. You and Dulcy are great!

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  3. I agree with you. Anything Dee (& Dulcy) write, including this book, is WONDERFUL!!

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    1. Thank you very much, fishducky, and thank you for letting me know I'm not left out of your bloggy heart.

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  4. Thanks for the heads up on this book. Pet lovers of the world, UNITE!

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    1. It's beautiful, Susan, as is Dee's first book -- "A Cat's Life," also available on her blog, and she'll autograph it for you.

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  5. I haven't read this one yet, but I loved the first one. I just am so behind on my reading these days with a huge stack of to-be-reads...but this one is near the top and I'm sure I'll love it. :) :)

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  6. Already got my copy in the mail! She is such a beautiful writer...as is Dulcy.

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    1. Dee gives Dulcy the credit, which makes the book even more beautiful.

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  7. This is such a beautiful review :) It reminds me of how much I miss my cat, Bootsie. I don't know if I'll ever be as close to a cat as I was to him.

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    1. Dee will be glad that you connected with the book, just as I did because of Faulkner.

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