08/02/2026
**A Gentle Story of Love, Hope and Healing**
Simon’s Tale
A week ago, we heard a desperate and frantic mewing late at night outside our kitchen door, door in the French countryside. We opened the door and this little cat dashed in, drenched, starving, and crying loudly non stop. He was absolutely terrified.
He is honestly one of the ptiful and saddest little souls I have ever met.
Yet Simon ( as he told me he was called) is house trained. He already knew and liked the sound of the television. He seeks cuddles and human contact constantly.
So he belonged somewhere. To someone.
Despite our efforts, no previous owner came forward.
The first days told the story of trauma very clearly.
For the first 48 hours, if my husband or I left the room and Simon couldn’t see us, he would mew desperately, loudly, as if he was being abandoned again.
At mealtimes, he would jump into the other cats’ bowls, wolfing all the food down, growling violently, driven by fear that it might be the last meal he had.
What happened next has been quietly extraordinary.
Our other cats, who should by all logic have been defensive, have been gentle, patient, and accepting.
No aggression. No rejection. Almost as if they understood.
Alongside warmth, food, love, patence, kindnessand consistency, Simon has been receiving regular Reiki from me. This has helped him calm down, his nervous system settle and feel safe again.
He now eats more calmly and slowly.
He no longer growls when he eats his food.
He no longer panics when we leave the room.
Yesterday, for the first time in a week, he stepped outside on his own for a few minutes, then came back in.
Healing is a process. It needs patience, love, care and understanding.
There is also something deeply strange and moving about this little soul.
Simon looks uncannily like our cat Marvel.
Marvel was adopted shortly after the devastating loss of our cat Lola, who died painfully from cancer. Within days of her death, this abandoned kitten was placed in our path. He looked so much like her that we called him Marvel.
And now, 18 months later, this new little cat appears, looking so very much like Marvel.
The universe has its own language.
Sometimes, healing comes back to us in familiar forms.
I take this as a message I am on the right path. Simon is a gift.
Healing, for humans and animals alike, begins the same way:
with safety, gentleness, presence, and time.
And when the nervous system learns, I am safe now, everything else follows .
