The Lesson of the Prairie Dog with the Orange

“The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.”

—AYN RAND—

Picture credit:  How Stuff Works/Gary Vestal/Getty Images
For a cute video go to:  http://www.desertusa.com/video_pages/du_pdogs1.html

Yesterday I was driving past the greenbelt in my neighborhood when I suddenly found myself laughing out loud at a desert prairie dog running across the way, almost into the street.  For those of you unfamiliar with these little creatures, above there is a picture and a link to a very brief video showing their size, sound, and movement.  They are roughly 3-5” long, including their tail; and they weigh 1½ -3 pounds.  Pretty small little guys and gals.  And yet, the reason I was laughing was the determination this one had.  He did believe, as did Ayn Rand, “The world you desire can be won, …it is real, it is possible, it is yours.”  How do I know this?  I was laughing as he (or she) was running as fast as they could carrying an orange.  An orange!!!!  Fully blocking his face, barely able to carry it, he nonetheless was able to carry it home to the hole.  What a treasure!!!  Admittedly this was no large orange, and frankly if I hadn’t seen it I wouldn’t have believed it, but there she was, all determination and grit to have what she had determined was hers.

What a metaphor for life!  What is it that you want?  Is it peace?  Is it a new car?  Is it a return from depression?  Maybe reconciliation with a friend or loved one?  Or maybe just a quiet day at home reading with no stress.  You can take a step toward it – and then run toward it. I do believe, however, that sometimes what we want is sorely and wholly desired, but we must wait, and so we experience the pain of waiting.  And sometimes we must work extremely hard and for long periods of time to get it.  Remember the last semester of any year of school?  Or the end of your senior year in high school or college?  Or the love who wanted to be near you but wasn’t finding a job in the area? Perhaps it is for the promotion or the raise?  Or the end of a commitment the military or a teacher’s contract?  In so many situations in life we are called to wait, slowly work through each day, one day at a time.  And yet, when we finally reach the end, the goal is so worth the wait that, like childbirth, we forget the pain and are in love with the child we can’t believe is ours, held in our hands, laid on our breast, and we well up in overwhelming love.  The goal is reached.

So, for those waiting, waiting for something to come, or to end, or to begin, here are a few ideas for making it through those days.  First, keep discerning what is best.  A very wise young man posted this to his Facebook page the other day:  “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart,” Jer. 29: 11-13.  When we don’t “get” what we “want”, there is often a reason.  Learning to wait for it, allowing it to become clear over time, is a difficult but important step in moving forward and gaining what it is that is not just what we think we want, but that is designed for our best.  Pema Chodron puts it another way: “Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen to and watch what is happening”.  Don’t you think that prairie dog had to wait for just the right size orange, clear of coyotes and rats and other varmints?  Of course he did! Whether in meditation or prayer, slow down, look, listen, reach out for God or your Higher Power for wisdom.

Second, face your fears.  Years ago, a book did more to motivate women to make changes in their lives than many other books.  It was “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” [link to embed:  https://www.amazon.com/Feel-Fear-Do-Anyway/dp/0345487427 ] by Susan Jeffers.  The context of the book was that we all feel fear.  Every single one of us!  Even that little prairie dog.  But we have to do more than feel it.  We must face it and act in spite of it.  That means we recognize it and move anyway.  I remember reading it at a time I was in the business world and terrified of making decisions that I had to make as a senior underwriter and marketing professional.  Decisions were mine to make, that’s what I was paid for at the time.  In addition, I was in a marriage that wasn’t healthy, and I had to leave that.  And that frightened me.  Despite all the quiet time and prayer and choices that were becoming clear, I still had to act.  I love the title of one of Jeffers’ chapters, “Just nod your head – say yes”.  Obviously, she is not suggesting making a decision that is not thought through, but eventually you must just say yes, or sometimes just say no.  The world will not crumble.  You will not sink into the pavement.  You will get through it.  And generally, it comes out just fine.  Someone I know has just gotten through a major decision – return to work or retire.  After struggling and going back and forth for months she finally just scheduled her first day back…and is fine.  She’s now back for almost a month and doing well.  She grabbed the orange and ran with it!

Third, Melodie Beattie has it right on so many things in life and I want to quote her here: “Gratitude unlocks the fulness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity…Gratitude makes sense of our past; brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”  So, gratitude helps us to move forward even further.  As that little prairie dog reached her home, her hole underground in the greenbelt, she must have given gratitude for making it across the street safely, managing to get that little orange all the way home with no interruptions by cars or coyotes, and gratefully had food for her family…and delicious food at that!  She was at peace.  And this built a memory of success that could fuel a vision for the next hunting trip.

So be your own prairie dog hero this weekend.  It’s a long weekend, so take some time to spend in quiet alone and with God or your Higher Power.  Ask for direction.  Gain some clarity.  Face your fear and do it anyway.  And be grateful for what you have, what you learn.  And be at peace.

Take care,

Dr. Beth

PS:  This Memorial Day a huge thank you to the members of our service, all branches, past, present, and future, who gave and continue to give their time, effort, and commitment to our country.  Today I’d like to recognize a few from my own family:  George and Julia Petritz (posthumously), Robert Petritz, William Petritz, Tracie Allen, William Fulton (posthumously), Robert Fulton (posthumously), Bert Fulton (posthumously), Greg Frey, Ladd Chojnacki (posthumously), Andrew Chojnacki, Chester Sikora (posthumously), Christopher Counihan as well as all of their spouses and children who have given to us as families who were disrupted many times due to moves, reassignments, and deployments.

Embracing Ourselves

It’s been a busy few months and I got distracted from this blog; however, it’s been on my mind, and my visit to the Frida and Diego art exhibit yesterday has given me the inspiration needed to pick it up. It was a wonderful visit with some friends, and as I wandered through it I became aware of Frida’s growth over the years. Some of her paintings and dresses were on exhibit as well as photographs by others of her. And while I’m focusing on her, Diego’s work and pictures were exhibited as well.

Frida and Diego were known for their art, relationship, and their politics in Mexico. While I do not believe her lifestyle was necessarily healthy, i.e.: affairs, I do believe her art matured and grew as she did. There are many ways to approach this, but as I considered Frida, her movement from one mastered by Diego and using his art as teacher and model shifted to her own technique and self as more independent of him, while still showing and experiencing love for and from him. One view that struck me at the exhibit, and that shows her dependency was captured by my friend, Dr. Mark Arcuri and was posted above. Here the focus of her quote is on Diego, and all he meant to her. Where is her sense of self, one might ask? While she certainly captures her mother’s background in her clothing, and wears it brilliantly,

Photo credit: Dr Mark Arcuri

she does still rely on Diego and mother and cultural background to define her. How many of us do that? Truly there is nothing wrong with this…as long as it is defining part, not all of who we are. I am Irish in my mind first culturally, second Polish, and lastly Scottish. I celebrate some holidays in ways that capture these parts of my genetic and cultural background my parents shared with me. I enjoy the many friends that I have, and what time with each means to me, to the fullness of my life, and to what they do in encouraging my growth as a person. And I take hope from my faith and live it through my spiritual walk. So my life and identity follow Frida’s life pattern as most, if not all of us, do.

And yet, I was most struck by a picture of hers from 1949, The Love Embrace of the Universe. The exhibitors describe it as her assimilation of her spiritual beliefs and the embrace similar to that of Mary embracing Christ and simultaneously showing Frida’s minimization of Diego and his influence over her life. This was only 5-6 years before her death, and many years into her relationship. Further, it was during her recovery from a major surgery and is followed by a few years when her art was accepted some on its own merit, not secondarily from Diego’s.

What this made me reflect on again, was how when we are not relying on others for definition, then we become our own person, and are capable of interdependent relationships. We are able to be held and hold others, as she was in this final picture I shared. And we are experienced and accepted on our merit and being, not as someone’s spouse, sibling, parent, or child. Not that those roles aren’t important, but again, they are but part of the whole package of who we are.

So as I end today, I urge you to consider who you define yourself as, whose life you are following, and what your faith and spirituality do to influence this? Ask yourself, where do I need further definition? Where are my shadows that need light and color to be made a part of the whole of me? And let the last days of spring encourage your growth as sunflowers popping up, being and embracing their being-ness boldly, fully, completely.

Blessings on your journey.

(PS: Interested in the Frida and Diego exhibit? It is at the Heard Museum in Phoenix through August 20, 2017, see http://heard.org/exhibits/frida-kahlo-diego-rivera/ or for other locations see http://www.fridakahlo.it/en/eventi.php)