Compromising Plants

Some of the most profound lessons I have learned from nature have come from the plant kingdom.  As I learned more and more about plants I realized their was a lot to learn from them and that they were really quite advanced.  Jane Goodall in her book Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder from the World of Plants talks about the plant kingdom and how complex they are and the positive force they can be.  She even relates in her book a story of a friend of hers that composed a song while sitting under a tree.  He then performed that song for a local indigenous tribe.  Afterwards he told them that he felt the song was told to him by the tree he was sitting under at the time.  The tribe told him the location of the exact tree he was referring to.  When the man asks them how they knew they replied that all trees have personalities and they recognized that tree's personality in his song.  

One lesson that plants have taught me that really stays with me his how to compromise and survive adverse forces.  I was standing outside once when I noticed a tree branch blowing in the wind.  I immediately in my head got the sense that the tree branch was trying to teach me something.  It was bending in the wind.  It was going with the wind and being supple and relaxed.  This was helping it to survive the harsh wind.  Had it tried to fight against the wind it could have snapped and broke.  I got the sense that sometimes in life you have to give and be flexible.  If you are too rigid it can actually be detrimental.  To drive this point home as I was walking back to my car after observing this I accidentally stepped on a rigid tree branch and it snapped and broke.  

Also on two different occasions both right before trying times in my life I noticed a tree that had compromised with artificial structures.  The first time was a tree that had grown around a guardrail.  The metal guardrail was actually cutting into this tree but the tree seemed to just keep growing and doing fine.  It had let the guardrail stand and continued doing it's thing.  The second time was a tree and fence.  The tree had grown into the fence so that both structures stood with integrity.  Those of you that watched the TV show Home Improvement may remember the character Wilson sharing a similar story.    

These plants had taught me how to bend and compromise to face adversity in life.  They taught me that sometimes in life you have to concede, sometimes you have to compromise and sometimes you have to stand your ground.  Wisdom is knowing when to do what.       

Know Your Limits

My one dog is extremely fast and agile.  She can fly through a wooded forest like a deer.  However her paws are small for her body size.  This doesn't appear to be a detriment on land and may even help her with her hairpin turns but on water it becomes a weakness.  She found that out the hard way when she tried swimming across a lake.  She only made it out a few feet before she had to turn back realizing she wasn't going to make it across.  By the time she got to land only her snout was sticking out of the water.  Her paws were too small to keep her afloat for very long nor could she swim very fast.  Since then she will only go in water that she can stand in.  She has never tried to swim again.  She knows her limits she is fine running on land and leaving swimming to the fish.

This taught me a very valuable lesson.  Know yourself and be honest with yourself.  Not everyone is going to be good at everything and everyone is good at something.  My dog taught me that you got to know your limits and your skills and be comfortable with both.  We are all unique and that's one of the things that keeps the circle of life moving.  My dog accepted she was not a good swimmer.  She still runs swiftly through the forests zigzagging through trees.  She still works hard at what she is good at and in her mind I am sure she feels she is putting her skills to good use.  I don't think it hurts her self-esteem she just does what she can do the best she can.  

It helps remind me to be open to trying new things and if I find I am not good at them to accept that and concentrate on the things I am good at like my dog does.  We all have skills to offer to the world.  We don't have to be good at everything.  We can just each play our role.  Together we are each a piece of a much larger picture that is this life.    

Dealing With Mistakes

I have always been hard on myself when I make mistakes. I know everyone makes mistakes and nobody is perfect but it still bothers me when I make them.  When I make mistakes I often wish I had a time machine to go back and change things but I can't.  But as I continued on in years it more appeared to me that how we handle our mistakes is more important than not making them.  Mistakes I think build character and help us learn things.  This lesson was hit home for me when I watched a documentary on a lioness.

The lioness in the documentary was pregnant.  Lionesses leave the pride to give birth alone by themselves.  They pick a safe nesting spot to give birth.  This lioness picked a bad spot to give birth it was on top of a snake den.  After her cubs were born the snake bit her cubs and her.  This snake was highly poisonous and the venom killed her cubs and blinded the lionesses.  The lioness was weak, blind and couldn't drink or eat.  The lionesses messed up big she had lost her cubs which was a devastating loss and now her own life was in danger.  You couldn't blame her for throwing in the towel.  How she reacted astonished me and has always stuck with me.  She sniffed her cubs and realized they were dead since she couldn't see.  She was visibly upset and mourned their deaths but pushed on for her own survival.  Her cubs paid the ultimate price but there was nothing she could do to bring them back all she could do was try to survive. She kept moving to prevent the venom from overtaking her.  She was attacked by a group of hyenas.  Hyenas and lions have a bitter feud where they will often attack and try to kill each other.  This group of hyenas certainly could have taken the lioness in her current state and did attack but she fought back.  She showed them that even though she was weakened and had messed up she was going to keep on fighting and she wasn't going to give up.  She demonstrated her will to live and push on.  The hyenas eventually left her alone since she had proven her strength of character.  Eventually she recuperated after a week and regained her sight and could eat and drink again.  She then went back to her pride to rejoin them and continue being a part of her family.

This lionesses made a big mistake in life but she just pushed through and did the best she could.  She couldn't really correct her mistake just survive it's consequences and then learn for next time.  I am sure next time she will be more careful picking a nest site to have her cubs.  She faced the adversity and now knows more about what she can survive.  She is smarter and stronger for it I am sure.  I try to remember her when I make mistakes.  If it is a big mistake I tell myself ok you got bit now fight through it and deal with it.  If I can correct the mistake or improve the situation I try to and whatever is left I just try to survive and make the best of it.  I try to take a moment to assess what I can learn and how to do better next time.  What are some challenges you have faced and had to overcome or mistakes that you made?  I would love to hear them and share.   

Accepting Life

"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans"-John Lennon

That quote from John Lennon I have found to be very true.  It is so easy to have a plan for your life and for things to change the course of your plan as you go through life.  Sometimes your whole life can change completely in an instant.  Other times you keep redrawing the plans only to have different occurrences happen to make you adjust your plans.  I can't tell you how many times I try to foresee a problem and work it out in my head only to have the problem resolve itself or never present itself because things have changed.  Also there have been many times when I have been stuck in a bad situation and feel hopeless but the situation eventually changes or things are going good only to have an event change everything.  Life is like a kaleidoscope constantly turning and changing.  It's like that line in the Elton John song Can You Feel The Love Tonight "...the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn".  We are all connected on this earth and because of that things are constantly in motion and changing just like a twisting kaleidoscope and we have to accept that.  We can be so much more at peace when we understand that things are one way now and they will change and be another way later.  

My dog drove that point home to me when he had surgery.  He had to where one of those cones they put on pets after surgery cause he went right for the stitches if it was off.  Because of this even on walks he wore it.  However the cone interfered with his ability to sniff the ground and the bushes.  And that is a major problem for him.  He is all about the politics of sniffing out where other dogs have urinated and leaving his own message.  He takes it as a very serious business and I felt bad watching him struggle to sniff and get in the right position to post his own message.  But as I watched him my pity turned to admiration.  He was making due the best he could.  He did not appear to be wallowing in self-pity at his predicament or cursing the fates.  He was just trying to do the best he could with the situation he was given.  He wasn't going to give up he was just going to accept the hand he had been dealt and work with it.  Which became all the more amazing when I realized that he had no way of knowing this was a temporary situation or for how long things were going to be this way.  I knew it was only for a couple weeks but he didn't.  For all he knew this was a long term development.  I realized that he knew that things were once different than they currently are and now he had this new challenge to face and that things were probably going to change again but for right now he would accept what life has presented him with and do the best he can with it.  He was still going to do what he felt was important for him to do and he would just go with the flow.  

Wild animals do this too.  They live by the forces of what nature deals them.  They don't know if they are going to eat today or get eaten themselves.  They may have to fight to defend themselves or their homes might be destroyed.  Any number of things could happen to them as the twisting kaleidoscope continues to turn.  These things could happen to humans but too often we humans build up illusions of control in regards to our life.  We feel we can foresee calamity and control our circumstances but in reality we are also at the whims of the twisting kaleidoscope.  I find it hard but after watching my dog and wild animals go with the flow I try to do the same.  Often I will forget and have to keep reminding myself(my dogs help remind me too along with other animals).  But if we go with the flow and accept the impermanence of life I think it will make us more at peace.  It doesn't mean we don't set out to do things or change things.  My dog still urinated on the bushes, he still did his thing he just accepted what life threw at him and worked with it.  Just like if a lion doesn't catch the gazelle she will simply go after the zebra.  They accept that things are always changing and they will continue to do their thing and face whatever life throws at them.  That's just life to face the challenges while doing our thing the best we can.  Does anyone have some other reminders that you have to go with the flow in life?  Or challenges that had to be overcome?

Healing Our Divide With Nature

I found an article recently about how healthy ecosystems can help with climate change by reducing amounts of CO2.  This article makes sense to me but I am surprised I have not seen more like it.  If we are trying to save the earth we will need to partner with nature to do so.  After all aren’t we and all the inhabitants of this earth part of nature.  Aren’t these environmental issues we are facing such as climate change and extinctions a result of the forces of nature being thrown off balance and disrupted.  Nature’s ability to rebound and create equilibrium should not be underestimated.  The site of the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown is declared a “dead zone” due to nuclear radiation, humans were evacuated and not permitted to re-enter the area.  It has been 25 years and despite what the name implies this area is far from a dead zone.  Wildlife is doing quite well and the ecosystem appears to be thriving.

Now grant it there are still some issues such as mutations but the wildlife is just producing more offspring to counter that and there are problems with plant decomposers but this was an area that was completely radiated after hundreds of years of being farmed and built upon and stripped of any natural wildlife.  If nature could make this strong of a come back at Chernobyl imagine what it can do at other places.  To find an example of a less severe area that nature made a comeback in you only have to look at Yellowstone National Park in the U.S.A. where after humans tried managing the herds of herbivores without much success wolves were reintroduced and the entire ecosystem become more diverse as the wolves changed the entire landscape allowing vegetation to once again flourish and all sorts of organisms to come back to the area and prosper. 

Nature can fix things.  There isn’t necessarily anything mystical about this(unless you prefer to look at things that way).  Our planet is made up of very complex systems such as ecosystems.  It makes sense that the competitive forces and pressures of nature make it so when something isn’t working in the system it goes away or changes eventually until something does start working in the system.  We humans are a part of these systems as well, whether we would like to admit it or not.  We try to control these systems and divide ourselves from nature for various reasons.  We need to heal that divide in ourselves and release the control.  It’s starts on the individual level accepting we are of the earth and part of these systems then when that individual divide is healed it spreads out into our entire species and makes cultural and societal changes.  Humanity can once again work with the systems on this planet rather than fighting or controlling these systems and running into discord.  Earth doesn’t need a savior or a manager.  Earth needs a friend and ally.  Lets heal our relationship to this planet that we come from and call home and stand with nature not above it or below it or against it.  Once we accept that we are part of nature humanity can unlock it’s true potential.  

Living the Moment

It’s tough to stay focused on the present.  Modern society so gears us to look ahead or behind.  For instance, we have to write resumes on past job experiences and we are saving for retirement.  One of the most popular English language songs right now is Adele’s Hello which is about regretting the past and people often ask when are you getting married, when are you buying a house, when are you having kids propelling us along life’s milestones.  How often do we just simply take pleasure on where we currently are in life and take it all in.  The good and the bad.  And say this is life, this is me at this moment in my journey.  Non-human animals on this planet do not seem to be as pre-occupied with the future or the past.  They seem to be very present minded and in the moment and perhaps can help us accept the current moment more.  The spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle says in his book the Power of Now how his cat is a great teacher of staying mindful in the present moment and he even co-authored a book with Mutt’s creator Patrick McDonnell called Guardians of Being on how pets help humans who live with them stay present minded.  This present mindfulness is often times attributed to lower brain functions but as this great article points out animals seem to be happier and more at peace while staying in the moment so maybe we should be imitating that more in our daily lives so we can be happier and more peaceful.   

Animals certainly remember things and use past experiences.  They don’t just blindly disregard the past.  They learn from it and accept it.  Your pet knows who you are and doesn’t meet you again for the first time when you come home everyday.  Your cat knows how to get belly rubs from you or not to scratch the sofa(or at least not to do it while you are looking).  Your dog knows when dinnertime is and not to go into the garbage(again at least while you are not looking).  Your pets learn from behaviors and routines.  My dogs know the instant we enter the vet office that bad stuff is going to happen.  But seem hopeful that anytime they go on a car ride without the other dog a good destination awaits even though they almost always only ride in the car without the other dog when going to the vet.  Wild animals learn as well.  They have to learn how to hunt and/or avoid predators.  They learn what is dangerous.  If they are social animals they learn social skills.  They learn from the past but they know the present moment is ever changing.  If another member of their group is in a bad mood they may avoid that member or fight but they can make up later often very quickly.  In a documentary two Japanese macaques fight and then reconcile quickly.  You can see this at about the twenty minute mark.  This is the kind of forgive and forget attitude that is often taken by animals in regards to social interactions or past mistakes.  I am sure repeated ill treatment would have repercussions but they know each moment is a new painting of life.  They pick up trends but fluctuations are taken as what makes each moment special and handled according to the circumstances of the instant.  Animals are ever present to handle these fluctuations and pick up on what is a trend and what is a momentary circumstance remaining optimistic for the best.

Animals seem not to dwell on the future either.  Animals in civilized society can’t.  If you bring your dog to be boarded it has no knowledge of how long it will be there.  It must take each day as is.  It has no control over how life unfolds just like all animals in society.  Wild animals don’t have any control either.  They do not know from moment to moment if they will be chased by a predator and hunters don’t know when they will catch a meal.  If a lioness leaves her cubs in a hiding spot to go hunt the cubs do not know if they will ever see her again.  An elephant does not know when she will die she does not go for yearly check ups at the doctor to see if she is healthy.  Death is always a possiblity.  Many if not all animals surely know they will one day die.  Cape buffalo will try and rescue one of their own from a lion and will try to kill lion cubs.  If they didn’t know what death was they wouldn’t try to rescue their own or kill their enemy.  The lioness in Disney’s African Cats got mortally wounded and afterwards got one of her pride mates to take care of her daughter and then went off to a secluded spot to die.  She had to know she was going to pass away from this life based on her actions.  Christian the lion laid by the grave of his friend Boyd when he passed and was visibly distraught.  Tarra the elephant carried her dog friend Bella when she died and appeared to be in mourning.  Animals certainly seem to know that living things can die.  Their is no evidence that they would think themselves immortal.  They most likely don’t know the mechanisms behind death and why it occurs just like up until Newton we didn't know why things fell to the ground but humans certainly knew before him if they jumped off a cliff they would fall.  Animals also probably don’t know what happens after death but in truth, although many firmly believe they do, humans have no definitive proof of what happens either outside our faith in our beliefs.  I think the reason we sometimes think animals don’t know they are going to die is because they don’t dwell on it.  They accept death will happen someday but for now they are alive and they will live each moment the best they can.  They know they have no control over life outside of how they live their own life day to day moment by moment.  They know the future can bring a myriad of events and circumstances and one day they will pass from this life.  But they can accept that and take each moment as it comes and do the best they can with it.  They know they are alive now and in a minute they may not be but that is in the future for now they will do the best with the present.  

I struggle with going with the flow and letting go of past hurt.  I have gotten better over the years but it's a continuing process.  I do believe that going with the flow makes for a happier life though based on my experiences.  I welcome others to share their experiences with this.  It is a tough thing to accept you have no control but if we can accept it and just do the best we can with the present moment we are given and let the future unfold as it must and let the past be our teacher and not our master maybe we can find the peace we need.