Animals can help us feel better

  
Why Animals Make Great Supporters When You’re Trying to Boost Your Wellbeing 
  • When you have a waggy tail, pricked ears, a merry tweet or a low purr beside you, or you take time to watch animals at work or play, it’s easy to get lost in their world.  It’s then hard to feel down or, indeed to think of anything else.
  • If you lack confidence or feel shy meeting people, animals can be a great way to break the ice.  Many excel at meeting and greeting and they provide a safe topic of conversation. They can help in difficult moments.
  • Animals reach the parts in a person that other people just cannot reach. They know and understand many things you feel when people cannot. Many cat owners, for example, swear that their cat knows if they are ill. Consequently, many animals excel at soothing, calming and relaxing you. Animal assisted therapy shows time and time again the way animals can get through to someone where trained professionals cannot. People will go the extra mile and make an effort for an animal.
  • Animals are totally non-judgemental; they will never criticise the way you look or dress, or make-up, or make unkind comments or bully you, so you can feel confident when you are with them.  Pets never care what we look like; they are more in tune with the values of the person who is looking after them, and whether we can use a tin-opener. They give us unconditional love all the same.
  • Animals live for the moment.  Can you imagine a dog chastising himself for hours after eating something he shouldn’t have?  No?  Well, why should we?  Does it get you any closer to achieving your goal of greater wellbeing? And have you ever looked at an animal at start of a new day?  Do they look bleary eyed and exhausted, ready for a few more hours in bed, or are they ready for the challenges of the day and excited about its new start?  Live in the moment; focus on what's important to you.  Make a fresh start.
  •  Animals are great role models where exercise is concerned.  They play and run because they just love it.  They just loving have fun!  Have you ever watched horses frolicking about?  They completely let go and don’t care what anyone thinks about them or their behaviour.  
  • Animals provide grounding and continuity in times of change.  They know what matters. 
  •  Animals are usually ready to suggest a walk, a game, a cuddle or a stroke. 
  •  They’re sympathetic listeners.  They never talk back and give you space to talk through your thoughts aloud.  This sort of noisy thinking aloud can help us work through an issue or problem without being interrupted or having our agenda taken over by well-meaning friends or family members, and help us reach conclusions by thinking about a problem deeply.  
  •  The US Department of Health did a study which showed that pets increased the survival rate of heart attack victims – 28% of heart patients with pets survived serious attacks, compared with just 6% of those without. 
  • Animals give you a broader perspective.  It’s harder to focus on yourself when you have a friend at your side, wanting a cuddle, or a tiny bird looking into your window saying hallo.
  • We all have a need to be needed and to nurture.  Animals fulfil this need beautifully, whether you care for birds in the garden, provide an oasis for pond and insect life there, have fish in a bowl or aquarium, or any one of a number of smaller pets. For this reason, animals provide children with a terrific self-development path. 
  •  Animals have no agenda.  What you see is what you get.  They give you direct and immediate feedback. 
  •  Many people feel at one when animals are around, and as though they are whole. When animals are around, people feel a fulfilment and contentment that isn’t there when they go.
  • Volunteer for a charity, and you can be fairly sure that you'll meet other people who love animals as well - so you'll have something in common straight away.
  • Animals have an important to play in bringing the generations together, breaking down social barriers and giving people a sense of belonging. Children can learn a lot from animals