Little Voice

Photo by koster79.

My 14 year old cat, Migs, has a spectrum of voices - most of which we'll hear on any given day: beginning with her sweet little "I like it when you pet me there" mew. 2. her, "but I really want to be on your lap NOW" meoww. 3. her repititious, rather staccato "My bowl is empty & I won't stop meowing until it's full" m' Ow. 4. the "I just woke up from a bad dream & am not quite sure where I am," meOWWW. 5. her rather guteral, "I have a bug trapped in your shoe" meROW, and 6. the still guteral yet muffled Operatic "I've caught a mouse and am carrying around in my mouth" meRWOWuh.

It was the latter that woke me up at 2:46 this morning as she paraded into the bedroom mouse in hand (or mouth as it were).

Now, I'm not generally a squeamish person, yet when mice are involved I tend to mimick those Saturday morning cartoons, where the woman of the house, upon seeing the mouse, shrieks and hops up onto the kitchen chair. It's true. As Migs "played" with the poor creature, letting it go, then chasing and catching it again, I was playing "the floor is made of lava" game - hopping from one piece of furniture to the next.

Finally able to shoo her out onto the sun porch, and freezing my toes off, I (rather bravely, in my mind) picked her up by the scruff, opened the front door, and held her like that until she complained so loudly that she dropped the mouse into the yard where it scurried away (probably making its way back into the house at some weak point along the foundation).

Thus was my late night adventure. (I liked it better when the cats just chased leaves).

I would suggest that just as my cat has voice to match every mood, so do you. I challenge you to find these voices & become aware of them.

Challenge: Find Your Many Voices

If you're not aware of your many voices, ask friends and family. Do you have a sleepy voice? an angry voice? an "I just want to have fun" voice? a sexy voice? a singing in the car voice? how about an "I didn't think anyone was listening" voice? I think you get the idea.

As you're discovering them, write about them. How does your voice change? Write down how your friends or family describe them.... List key descriptive words.

and more fun than anything, Illustrate them! You can make fun of yourself or you can take it quite seriously. - Remember, no one but you has to see your sketchbook/journal, so don't be timid about it. This is an adventure in discovering more about yourself. Remember, the more we learn (even if it's about ourselves) the more neural connections we make & the better able we are to observe and understand our world.

And you may just want to try out some of those voices, when no one's listening, to hear for yourself how they sound and resonate in your body (how do they make you feel?).

(every once in a while, I'll get into my car, close the door, take a deep breath & just scream at the top of my lungs - for no other reason than to scream. My muscles tense, my breathing gets focused, and the sound vibrates through each cell of my body. When I'm through, I feel relaxed and awake. It's very cathartic, you should really try it.)