The Present: A Gift from our Furry Friends

[RADIOLAB FOR KIDS INTRO]

LULU MILLER: [sings] Happy New Year's Day. Happy New Year's Day, Happy New Year's Day, I've got something to say! Okay, so it's a new year. We have all, on this spaceship called Earth, lapped the sun, gone over 500 million miles. High five! Good job, we did it. But you know what I've always noticed about this time? In the weeks leading up to this moment, everyone is looking back. They are rating the best. What were the best movies of the year? The best songs? The best books? And when we cross over this finish line, we make it to a new year, and suddenly everyone starts looking forward. What are my New Year's resolutions? How am I gonna be better? How am I gonna be different? But it's like we just skip making room for the present, for just being.

LULU: And the thing about living in the present is there are all kinds of gifts that come when you do. It has been shown to lower your heart rate, make you a little more chill. It reduces stress. It may improve your immune responses, making you better at fighting off sicknesses. And some scientists think it improves your cognitive function, which is fancy speak for it helps you think, it helps you notice things, the stuff around you, the people around you. It might even help you be more able to experience awe—that lovely feeling of the world surprising you.

LULU: But we humans, the way our brains are wired, we are not always so great at staying there in the present. You know, we leap into the future and we worry about what could happen. Or we return to the past and we relive something embarrassing or sad or think about someone who made us mad. It's like this gift—and curse—of being a human, is that our mind can leave the present and go to these other places.

LULU: So on this day, on New Year's Day, instead of eating black eyed peas for good luck, as many in the United States do, or eating 12 grapes—pop, pop, pop, pop, pop—one for each month as they do in Spain, or shooting off fireworks as they do in China, or eating long soba noodles for a long life as they do in Japan, or hurling yourself into cold water as polar bear plungers do all around the world, I thought here at Terrestrials, as a New Year's Day tradition, I would hand the mic over to those of us who are fantastic at living in the present. And who is that someone? Drum roll ...

LULU: It's your pets. Yup, our furry or sometimes scaly or spiny friends. We put out a call to you to send us audio postcards of your pets relaxing, chillaxing, snoozing, snoring, just being right where they are. And so that's what we've got for you today. A first for Terrestrials, an episode hosted by non-human hosts. We are gonna let them run the show and see what they might have to teach all of us about how to be on this planet. Think of this as a guided meditation of sorts, an animal inspiration. Let them lead you into that special place, the present, a place where awe and connection and calmness might reside. So without further ado, here we go, a lesson in rest for those who do it best.

[snoring]

KOA'S HUMAN: This is Koa. She's a one-year-old pitbull mix. She lives with me in Seattle, Washington. Right now she's sleeping on top of her crate, not inside.

DUNA'S HUMAN: Duna is a medium-sized dog, fully white with a few patches of light brown. Right now, Duna is sleeping next to me. It's finally night time. She takes a deep breath and relaxes her body. It's quiet. You can hear her soft breathing, soft breathing.

HARRY'S HUMANS: We're in Susie's backyard. [whispers] What else do I say? Harry the tortoise is sleeping. Can you hear him breathe really loud? Okay, so how do you tell that I pet his head?

MOO'S HUMAN: This is Moo. She is an eight-year-old black and white cat. We're in Baltimore, Maryland, on our couch in our apartment. She is laying on her side with her belly facing me, and her little pink tongue is poking out.

KOJI'S HUMAN: This is Koji. She is a 13-year-old Boston terrier. She's blind and she's deaf, but she's doing okay. And she's sleeping on the bed next to Champ, the cat. And Laszlo, the black lab, is on the floor. The sun's coming in through the window a little bit. She was up late last night, so she'll probably be the last one to wake up.

DUKE AND ARCHIE'S HUMAN: Duke and Archie are asleep on our leather sofa in front of us. It's a lazy Sunday afternoon. We're in Kennebunk, Maine. Duke's a big 130 pound mutt. Archie's a little 30 pound mutt. I'm holding the mic up to Duke's butt, where Archie's laying his head.

ONYX'S HUMAN: My name is Tambre, and I'm a harpist in Nashville, Tennessee. I've just finished practicing harp, and my cat Onyx is curled up at the base of my bed. He's snoring like an old man. It's one of my favorite things he does, and he always tends to fall asleep when I'm practicing. So I sit down next to him, then curl up around him, just listen to him snoring.

SASSY'S HUMAN: This is Sassy. She is our 16-and-a-half-year-old black cat here in Tucson, Arizona, sleeping in the corner of our office. Right now, it's about noon and she's taking a nap.

BAKER'S HUMAN: This is Baker in Atlanta, Georgia. He is about two-and-a-half years old. He is a brown Boston terrier. Cuddled up and snuggly. Sleeps on his back, because of his little smushed face, it produces some truly incredible snoring.

CHARLIE'S HUMAN: This is Charlie. She's seven. She thinks she's two. She loves life, and she's totally crazy. That's daddy's little baby. Yeah.

JAMIE'S HUMAN: I'm here with my dog, Jamie. He's an American foxhound. We're sitting in our dining room, and Jamie is asleep on his elegant Victorian couch.

BULKLY'S HUMAN: Hi, my name is Karina, and I am here with my cat, Bulkly. He is snuggled up next to me on some comfy pillows, and he is purring himself to sleep. And he'll be helping me fall asleep as well. Can you hear him doing some little snores?

NEVO'S HUMAN: Hi, this is Mira. I'm in Montreal, in Canada. The winter sun is streaming in through the window, and it's landing on my cat Nevo, who's curled up beside me. He's a long black cat, and he's very, very loud when he's awake. When he's sleeping, he has the softest little snore I've ever heard.

FOXY LADY'S HUMAN: I'm with my dog, Foxy Lady. She's a 12 pound chihuahua mix. We've both had a long day.

CAPTAIN JACK'S HUMAN: This is Captain Jack, my rescue chinchilla. I think chinchillas look like fat-bottomed squirrels.

CAT'S HUMAN: There's the cat sleeping.

BB QUEEN'S HUMAN: I'm sitting next to my dog, BB Queen. She is curled up, and her eyes are beginning to twitch, and her breathing is getting really heavy.

TUCKER'S HUMAN: This is Tucker, from Middleton, Wisconsin. He's a 15-year-old black pug, and he's sleeping in my mom and dad's bed being very loud.

NICO'S HUMAN: This is Nico. She's a 15-year-old puggle. She's got the softest floppy ears. She's curled up like a donut in her little blue dog bed, and she's twitching a bit. Is she dreaming?

MAVIS'S HUMAN: This is the sound of our dog, Mavis. Our dog Mavis.

NICO'S HUMAN: We call her "Bubby," as in grandma. I look at old pictures of her and I wonder. I wonder at how sprightly she used to be, and how much she's aged in the past couple of years. She's teaching me how to be with change, and adapt love and care as needed. She can't really hear much anymore, but every day, I tell her she's such a good girl.

LULU: The music and arrangement today by Alan Goffinski. The mix by Joe Plourde. For more from the Terrestrials team, subscribe to the Radiolab for Kids feed. I am your human host, Lulu Miller, signing out.

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