Good morning, everyone ~
With a wee bit of imagination and countless childhood brain-files, I am able to convert my suburban Florida home into a postage-stamp size replica of my Carolina woodlands … but only at this time of year. It’s the breeding season, and the songs of birds, toads, frogs fill the air! Wrens flit from one nest site to another as soon as their last brood is sufficiently fledged. With every heavy rain, toad/frogs turn every temporary pond/puddle into an opportunity.
Recently, I watched a first-time momma racoon carry her newborn babies from a ground-level den to the cavity of a tall oak. Just this week, I saw a hummingbird carefully collecting spider web from high in the canopy to use for her nest-building. It was a delicate/dangerous operation. One that could have snared her wings. In my brain-files I have the memory of rescuing such a snared jewel — her feet had become entangled in her sticky prize. Once freed, she flew back to her task, ready to tackle the thing she needed most, despite the dangers.
Nature! Bird knows how to be bird, regardless of what species or what name we humans put upon them. Toad knows how to be toad, frog knows how to be frog … . If we humans train ourselves to observe carefully/interpret properly, perhaps one day we too will know how to be humane (with ourselves/toward others).
Hummingbirds carefully unstitch spider web … a thing that is very costly to the spider who made it … to risk their lives for the sake of providing home/shelter to the next generation … recycling, reweaving, recreating “shelter; safety” from what once had been a “danger; trap”. Can we humans learn again how to create/recreate a sense of “safe place” from the sticky entrapments that this world has become?
Perhaps. If we learn how to untangle our brain-files … how to carefully separate the elements of entrapment from our memories … how to keep the worthwhile, recycle the “good” and separate self from the “traps” … how to recognize similar “traps” as we move into out future and avoid storing more pain in our brain-files.
The brain learns to hurt, neuroscientists tell us, by storing “traps” that entangle our energies with the unresolved issues/challenges of others. A current sight/smell/taste/touch/sound triggers a brain-file cascade event. Suddenly, our Present physical/mental/emotional/spiritual energies are ‘trapped’ in all those cross-filed memories of the Past.
With our minds we can free ourselves from such sticky moments. We can train ourselves to remember without becoming part of someone else’s “stuff” … by simply recognizing the elements of those memories that belong to us and what parts are someone else’s “stuff” to resolve. We can remember, without recreating Past hurts/sorrows/griefs.
As a hummingbird flies away with the precious cargo of silk, the spider who created that silk does not get “trapped” in the memories of her Past. She simply sets about rebuilding her life-saving web. And hummingbird creates a place of shelter/safety for her children who have yet to be born, stitching together the Future for herself/others in a pattern as old as Time. We can learn, if we are willing, to do likewise.
Last Week’s Challenges:
(A) Tell me a story about your own changing needs and adjustments.
Measureless gratitude to those of you who responded to this challenge. Your stories inspired me with your courage.
courage: (Latin) heart
You are people of courage, and I am humbled by the heart-touching stories you shared. Gentle hugs/much love to each of you!
(B) re: internal dialogue (self-talk), how would you describe yours?
Overall, the answer is: “needs improvement”. Indeed! A true statement for each-n-all. The key: willingness! And that takes courage! I have proof that you are courageous enough.
When in doubt, I’ll be happy to remind you.
This Week’s Challenges:
(A) Who said: “… Students who hold a fixed view of their intelligence care so much about looking smart that they act dumb … for what could be dumber than giving up a chance to learn something that is essential for your own success?”
(B) The “school of Life” is never-ending. Success is not an immovable point on our Life Path — it is the caliber of our Life Path, either defining our day-to-day walk through Life or highlighting just how “dumber” we can be. Life is a continual learning process, or else it is one long miserable journey of “fixed view” of self/others. Are you willing to keep learning? Just what have you learned, Dorothy?
Well, my dearly-loved ones, dawn is breaking the night’s sky. Toad/frog songs are being replaced by birds’ various tunes. In small-group meeting yesterday we celebrated the 6th year milestone of our Group’s founding by sharing stories of courage/newfound energy. We ate cake/ice cream, gave thanks for one another, and stepped into the beginning of Year Seven with collective willingness. As the still-popular song says: “… It’s a new dawn; it’s a new day; and, I’m feeling good”
…… because there is both personal and collective willingness to learn how to better manage our pain through mindfulness training, resolution of personal brain-files, and giving back to others those responsibilities-of-self that belonged to them in the first place. Stay willing. Stay self-responsible. Stay “woke”!
Gentle hugs/much love,
Marian