What’s happened around the bird feeder in my back yard shows a good example of how some people are not so different from squirrels. But maybe I should only speak for myself.
A couple little fellas were hell-bent on getting to the birdseed. If the squirrels had just waited for the birds to do their thing — they’re kinda messy — the furry guys could have then hopped around and grabbed all they wanted.
Instead, they ripped out the nozzle that rations the seed — the one that also keeps it in the feeder.
Of course, the bandits chose the bottom nozzle. All the seed spilled out onto the ground, leaving themselves and their companions (competitors?) to nudge through the moss and grass, searching for the little bits of life-on-hold that they were so desperate to get their paws on.
It all spilled out, way more than they could eat at once.
Then it rained. The leftover seeds sunk deeper into the moss, further away. They’ll sprout and my landlord will mow before the grass bears more seed.
I wonder if the squirrels will end up with more or less to eat than they might have gotten if they had just let things be.
They remind me of myself. Sometimes I just don’t wanna wait. Sometimes I just don’t think ahead. Whether it’s seven generations or a couple weeks. And here I sit in my later years wondering if I should have — could have — done more to be a responsible, compassionate, fore-sighted human.
It also reminds me of the Pacific Garbage Patch. Millions of us clinging to convenience while the oceans cling to life.
Just imagine what it would be like… No dangling upside down from limbs… no swinging by sharp little toenails to tug at the plastic ring… Just sit tight and wait for the seeds to fall, and you’ll have plenty. And again tomorrow. Just take the moment to choose a slower way to do things — ways that don’t harm others in the long run.
And as we make choice, just imagine… No dangling in suspense wondering what people will think… no clinging to other people’s vision of whom I should be… no regrets twenty, or fifty, years later.
What the squirrels — and I, sometimes — don’t seem to understand is that for my life, I’m in charge of the birdseed bag in the laundry closet, and I’m on a budget.
If they spill it all on day two, they’re seedless until the weekend.
If I do things now that don’t help me in the long run, that don’t sing to my heart, that don’t place me into my personal power command module, who am I cheating? Not the birds.
The squirrels… they got what they asked for, right? Is it any different for you and me?
leslee hare 
DANGLY BITS AND TRAPS
Then again
From a Zen
Or Dzogchen
Viewpoint – or Tao
Relax back into Now
Return – Release
Thought destroys Peace
Breeds Illusion
Confusion
All is One
With no one
Real to worry
To fret or hurry
From here to there
Be more than Aware
End up being less
Breath in – Breathe out
No mind what it’s all about
~~~~~ ~ ~~~~~
Thanks for this, Leslee. Enjoy your day. 🙂 ❤
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oops. Missed a line out near the end. Sorry. It should read
“End up being less
And breathless
Breath in – Breathe out
No mind what it’s all about”
LikeLike
Er … Not “Breath in”. “Breathe in”. 😳
LikeLike
It’s wonderful, Ben! I hope you enjoy your day too! Thank you for being my mindfulness monitor 😃. I hope you’re feeling well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Having a good day so far. Wrote this poem for a start. D) Then there’s been sitting, eating a hearty breakfast, reading a few posts and e-mails, having a bit of on line chatting … The list goes on. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Lotus Dance Press and commented:
The latest blog post from http://www.lesleehare.net 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dearest Leless, I on the contrary, am used to hesitate for figuring out the better way that I can find finally, or in the case of shopping, pick or not, or next time, or til the moment when it gets cheaper. All my life, I’ve wasted too much time hesitating. Then, I just realized quick decision might be much more beneficial than long time measure which as the fact not necessarily brings out the safer outcomes. For there is always the factors that we just cannot imagine which might turn upside down or mess things up, or even vice versa. If I can, that what I expect myself to become is to be able to make quick decision, and quick solution. We just cannot know what we have missed when pondering. Even sometimes, or most of times, it’s in fact so hard for me to tell which ideas are really poping up, generated from the intuition or instinct.
I’ve been browsing the art works that you have shared here……….God, it’s the magical cubes or prisms which reflect more and more and more….I’m sure someday, there are going to the ones who are so driven to dig them more, to study you and more via all these art works of numerous genres by you and the brothers and sisters here in the tribe. We get so many ARTISTS here, aren’t we, of various kinds of genres of ART.
Here, I want to attach this paitng of you here for this the very ECHO or something I don’t know how to name it…it’s much more than healing, it’s tender, but sounds so…..THANK YOU !!! Thanks also for Ray’s nice messages, no, much more then nice !!!
LikeLiked by 1 person