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go to Caitriona Reed.com for recent posts

Woodrat Reminiscences. Are you determined?

When we stripped off the old roof of our meditation hall we disturbed a colony of woodrats. Woodrats are also known as pack rats and are notorious in the American west for their habit of collecting vast mounds of debris to make nests that often serve for generations of rodents. We also discovered that woodrats are fond of rearranging libraries, gnawing though computer cables, and keeping us awake at night with compulsive nocturnal activities in the roof.

When the family finally scurried out of the meditation hall roof some of them took up residence in the library for a while-hence our discovery of their penchant for rearranging books. When we finally got them all outside a couple of weeks later they made themselves known by moving hardware and tools about in the workshop and removing small logs from the woodpile.

I started to trap them. Every morning I would drive my captive rodent down our long dirt road and release him or her in the brush by the the banks of a dry river bed. A much more suitable habitat for a woodrat, I thought.

When I released the third rat I had caught (though I am now wondering if it wasn’t perhaps the same rat, caught a third time) instead of running into the nearby brush, he ran around me, darted across fifty yards of open ground and jumped up into the underside of my car. Damn!

I drove as fast as I could back along the dirt road, checking my rear view mirror. Hoping that the road was bumpy enough for my stow away to jump ship. But I didn’t see him.

So I parked the car at the far end of our parking lot, and re-set the trap right next to my car. The next morning I encountered a very angry rodent, caught in the grill of the trap, and squeaking at me in no uncertain terms. He couldn’t get free and I was not willing to risk getting bitten.

So I drove him back down the road and left him on a slope by a rock, imagining that he would either extricate himself or become lunch for a raven or a coyote.

Feeling bad for his plight, and a little guilty I returned in the evening.

I found that he was gone. Not only was he gone but the trap had been disassembled. Not only had the trap been disassembled, but the spring that closes the door was nowhere to be found. I mean nowhere! The door was lying a few feet away, but the spring, without which the whole thing was useless, had vanished. Apart from a few rocks, the ground was open for thirty yards all around. Not a sign of it. It had vanished along with my stubborn and irate little friend. Now I was re-evaluating my understanding of rodent intelligence, and reflecting on the value of furious determination.

Two Kinds of Change

Change happens in one of two ways. Either you make it happen, or it happens to you. Either you live a life of your own choosing, or others choose for you.

Perhaps you are one of those rare people who fully accept their power to effect positive change — in their own life, and for the benefit of others. They base their life on the choices they make. They don’t spend time complaining or blaming others for what happens, and they don’t take much time out to explain or justify their actions. They trust their own judgment as well as the judgment of their team - those who they rely on to hold them accountable. They have a good sense of their own and others’ intrinsic worth.

There’s a motto here: “No complaining, blaming, explaining, or shaming!”

They also trust their own integrity, and so they become trustworthy to others. They don’t cultivate friendships based on mutual disaffection. They are not looking for reasons why bad things happen. They are looking for solutions and results.

If this seems simplistic then look at the lives of people who have truly made a difference in the world. Look at the lessons of history, or look at present day examples. Examine the lives of people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Archbishop Romero, Albert Schweitzer, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa. These people were not without their faults. What sets them apart from others was their vision for change, and their determination to act on that vision. Think of your own examples. Think of the people who have brought about social change. Fame is not the issue. The issue is whether they effected positive change in the lives of others. Don’t look for perfection. When we idealize others, all we are doing is creating a false yardstick with which to measure our own flaws.

Or are you one of those people who thinks that change is something that just happens based on the belief that your actions can’t have any lasting positive effect? If so you are in the majority. And you also probably blame circumstances, events, or other people for many of the difficulties you encounter.

This is not to deny the reality of history. It does not mean that we dismiss the reality of the systemic exploitation of human beings and of the resources of the planet. It simply challenges each one of us to pose the question, “How can I change this pattern of exploitation in the most effective way by refusing to see myself as a victim?”

How can I live by the motto: “No complaining, blaming, explaining, or shaming!”

Walking into the Sun

A walk to the neighbor's to drop off an envelope that FedEx left here by mistake this morning. It's close to an hour round trip. Our neighbor is away. so we leave the envelope by his gate. Walking back through sage brush and old oaks across the now dry grassland that characterize the countryside here. A welcome relief after sitting at the computer for most of the day!

For most of June I was in Los Angeles, and now here, with the sun going down over Mount Palomar to the west.

Waves of gratitude and joy. On Sunday we begin our Sanctuary seminar program. A whole new curriculum, integrating Buddhist teaching, NLP, everything we know, vision quest.

Walking as the sun goes down, growing large and red, making way for the full moon rising in the east.

The Pressing Questions - Hey! This is a Launch!

"Imperfection acted on beats planned perfection," I keep hearing this, over and over in the past year or so, in different ways, from different people. Well, how about imperfection that's still barely out of the planning stages? It is getting done, right?

Actually some of it is already done. The imperfection in question which, if I say so myself, I am really pleased with, is the first several modules in an e-class series called THE PRESSING QUESTIONS.

You can see the first one at ChoosePersonalFreedom.com and sign up for the series there too.

I am learning that it really is possible to maintain integrity and stay congruent with my values; to keep doing what I do, even better than before; help a lot of people; and generate revenue on-line . . amazing imperfection!

The full series of e-classes is only $157. That's seven months of training. And for those who follow through and do the full class and follow through with the exercises etc. that I will be offering ... well, I thank you in advance. And ... you are going to learn some amazing things!

It kicks off with ...

... I was speaking with a colleague the other day, Elise Turen, who was saying how some people are afraid of 'going deep', afraid of questioning, of daring to challenge cherished assumptions.

She laughed and said, " . . we live there . . . " and laughed again. "We live deep!"

want to live deep? read more
ChoosePersonalFreedom.com

Video from Manzanita

The footage is from the two-week permaculture training we hosted last month. Thanks to Margo Adair, Bill Aal, Starhawk, Ken, Andi, and everyone who participated and helped. The footage was shot by Ken Yamaguchi-Clark and edited by Donna Golden (words and voice are by me). We have miles of footage - look out for more.



Permaculture video from Donna Golden on Vimeo.

more Video at Manzanita Videos