Yesterday I went out to the farm to check on a friend\u2019s cat and the chickens (the girls).\u00a0The cat and I had a wonderful bonding time.\u00a0Then I bebop over to the barn to check in on the girls.\u00a0 As I come into the coop, what do I see in the egg box?\u00a0 Yup, a snake.\u00a0 I had the awe s*** moment hit.\u00a0 As I looked, he had one of five eggs in his mouth.\u00a0 I thought, ok buddy, you can have the one egg, and I will take the rest.<\/p>\n
Now I had to figure out how the heck I was going to get the eggs out of the box if he was still in there.\u00a0 Being the chicken that I am, I take a little feed into my hand and throw it at him with a hope that this will make him move.\u00a0 Nope!\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t stir.\u00a0 \u201cOk, next strategy is?\u201d I ask myself.\u00a0 Then I see a big stick near a window.\u00a0I can handle this!<\/p>\n
I grab the stick with the determination that I am coming out of the coop with the four eggs.\u00a0 I still am not going to put my hand anywhere near my new friend; he can have the fifth egg.\u00a0I take the stick and hit the side of the box to see if this will cause him to move. Nothing.\u00a0 \u201cNow what? Let\u2019s try to move him out of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
I try to get the stick under him to lift him out of the box.\u00a0 What does he do?\u00a0 He releases the egg and starts to hiss at me.\u00a0 Well, this scares me even more, but now I am determined to get those eggs; he has to go. I continue to try and lift him up and out of the box.<\/p>\n
My fear now includes the thought that he will come up the stick at me.\u00a0 To my relief, he doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 With a little fight between me, the big stick and him, he finally gets the message it\u2019s time to leave. He slithers away the way he may have come into the coop.\u00a0 And I walk triumphantly, and shaken, out of the coop with all five eggs.<\/p>\n
And this thought hits me \u2013 even being face to face with a nemesis, I can be mindful. I am amazed at my response to the situation\u2026I didn\u2019t let my mind wander in any direction. I was in the moment, felt the trembling in my body the whole time. I heard the chickens around me, smelled the coop, felt my hands and feet. Somehow, I was totally aware of everything going on, in and around me. Without these past 8 weeks of practice, I don\u2019t think could have been as mindful nor taken action as I was for this experience.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not saying that I want to have this experience again.\u00a0 I still don\u2019t like snakes, and I sure as heck do not want to be around them. J<\/p>\n
Periodically we publish reflections in the Monthly Musings section of the newsletter that have been written by students in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction classes. If you have a piece you\u2019d like us to consider, please send it to Karen Dyer at kr3s@virginia.edu.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday I went out to the farm to check on a friend\u2019s cat and the chickens (the girls).\u00a0The cat and I had a wonderful bonding time.\u00a0Then I bebop over to the barn to check in on the girls.\u00a0 As I come into the coop, what do I see in the egg box?\u00a0 Yup, a snake.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monthly-musings"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\n