Black Squirrels

We say we are feeding the birds, but we are feeding almost a dozen gray squirrels as well. When they hear us opening the door to the deck, they scatter to the four directions. This morning, i noticed that one of the gray squirrels is black. These "black"squirrels are rare mutations, but colonies of them can develop.

I noticed that all the other squirrels were not noticing the "specialness" of the black squirrel at all. And i wished that i, too, could be so color blind that i would not notice the color of someone's skin.

A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear

While i was at meditation group this morning at the neighbor's house, a bear ambled through the woods near our house.

Another neighbor who was out for her morning walk managed to take a couple of photos with her mobile phone.

I have no doubt that the bear was checking the ground underneath our birdfeeder. We only put a handful of sunflower seeds out at a time on our second-story deck, but i see the birds flicking seeds here and there. I know some wind up on the ground underneath the deck.

A fed bear is a dead bear. This means i have to stop feeding the birds. Whether my sweetie also stops feeding the birds is another question.

How do we subtly "feed" the bear of a problem in our lives? We tell ourselves stories about that other person who rubs us the wrong way, and then we believe the story we have told ourselves. It's time to stop. Stop telling our self that story. That bear of a problem person exists only in our minds. And it's really time to stop. Just stop. Stop feeding the bear.

A Bear and a Problem

A black bear prowled around our house last evening, just before sunset. It smelled the birdfeeder on a second-story deck in which we keep only a handful of seeds at a time. Fortunately, it did not climb up the 10 feet to lick up a few stray sunflower seeds.

Inside the house, my sweetie was running from door to door, locking them, and closing the garage door, which leads to the trash can where we store our birdseed. The trash can protects the seed from mice, but would be easy pickings for a bear.

Sometimes our minds are grappling with a "bear" of a problem that prowls around our mind, ravenously hungry, and looking for any excuse to justify our words or actions. The "I" wants to be right, and it will toss and turn the body for hours in the middle of the night to prove its point, over and over again.

The visit from the bear encourages me to clean up my act:
(1) don't feed the birds in the summer
(2) NO meat scraps in the compost

How do we clean up our mind?
We practice compassion for ourselves and for the "bear" of a problem.
We practice kindness toward ourselves first and toward the other person.
We notice what truth feels like: There's a relaxation that goes with truth. "Ahhh. Yes."
Chances are, the bear-of-a-problem has to repeat itself over and over, in our minds, telling us again and again and asking us to believe it time and time again. (Is that the definition of propaganda?) We only need to hear truth once to "know" it's true.

When you stand--or sit--on the side of truth, the mind relaxes and becomes like a still forest pool. As Achaan Chah says, "All kinds of wild animals will come to drink there." Even a black bear.