I can think of few things more emotionally gratifying than to sit with a purring kitten on your lap.  First you have to win their trust, enable them to feel safe around you; you have to entice them to you when they are a sleepy enough to just sit still rather than careen around the room at 90 miles an hour.  Then they snuggle up and and begin to purr; their way of letting you know they feel safe and content.  It leaves me feeling perfectly at peace and totally content, just like them.

Purring is just one feedback mechanism, but very powerful in its simple power of sending a clear, positive message.  Positive feedback is a very powerful tool for reinforcing ‘good’ behaviour, whether at work or in our social groups.  People both long for approval and enjoy making people feel good and especially if they are the cause of that positive feeling.  If you are struggling with a recalcitrant teenager or a resistant staffer, try finding something they are doing that you genuinely feel good about and praise it and them.  You maybe surprised at the results…

“If we treated everyone we meet with the same affection we bestow upon our favourite cat, they, too, would purr.”   Martin Delany

“Purring would seem to be, in her case, an automatic safety-valve device for dealing with happiness overflow.”   Monica Edwards