It’s a Friday night when I’m writing this, and sometimes at the end of the week, you just need a nice cat pic. One of the guys that I follow, Wil Wheaton, will often post “Emergency” pet pics of his adorable cats and dogs. It got me thinking about how incredible it is that a picture of an animal, doing something cute, or just sleeping, can improve our mood so much.

Perhaps, it’s because when we see pics of a cute puppy or kitty, we think about times in our lives when we’ve been calmly sitting on a couch, and a beloved pet comes over and rests up against us. It’s a sign of trust and love from a creature that isn’t on the same mental wavelength as us, but yet we can connect. My wife and I have many nights when we’re sitting on the couch, watching TV, and our cat Mimi will come over and sit between us, purring and resting her body against our legs. Even our younger, more anti-touch cat, will sometimes come and sit near us. She doesn’t like to be petted, but occasionally she’s OK with some contact leaning against us.

For this Friday night I leave you with the cat picture, up top, of Mimi, looking adorable, and making our lives a little more calm, helping us forget the trials of the work week.