Bees, Bugs and Ballyhoo...

 

So...it was a good weekend.  One thing that happened is a great example of Karma.  Well, it was two things that happened.  Saturday afternoon and evening we had some guests over.  One of the guests was a one year old little man.  Earlier in the day, one of our cats had been playing with some sort of insect in the house.  This is not an uncommon event so we didn't pay attention to what type of bug.  Cats are great for keeping bugs from attacking their humans and we are truly grateful for that.  Cats, of course, are known for helping with mice...well, they help with anything that moves that does not belong.
 
So, later in the day, that little man was playing on the floor in the living room.  Unbeknownst to us, the bee was in the area half-dead on the floor.  Little man sees the bee and picks it up and BOOM...the bee bites the little man.  Oh boy.  He did very well I have to say.  He cried for about two minutes and then let it go and was smiling in five or so minutes.  Have you ever been bitten by a bee?  This was a tough little kid.

Anyway, I was feeling bad, like it was my fault.  I should have known the cat was playing with a bee.  I should have known it was still alive.  I should have known it wasn't dead.  Etc...but that way of thinking is truly silly, yes? 

Well, the next day, today, I decide to go for a mountain bike ride.  Pretty normal thing to do on a beautiful weekend afternoon.  I get ready, grab my gloves and put them on.  Well, there was a bee in the right glove and it bit me right where the thumb and forefinger meet.  I was jumping all around the front yard, trying to get the glove off after I realized what was going on.  In my mind, the first second, I'm like "Why does my hand feel like it's on fire?"  To be honest, I didn't even see the bee.  I didn't have to.  It got me good as it had plenty of time to fully unload on me. 

Let me tell you, that little kid is tough.  That thing hurt for the whole bike ride and for a total of about three hours.  It was hard to hold the right side of the handlebars.  Moral?  Was it Karma or just a coincidence?  It did take away my guilt...so there's that...

This was the second time this year I got bit.  I tend to go without shoes as much as possible in the summer.  Early this past summer, I was walking across the lawn and stepped on a bee.  BAM!  The pain from that one didn't last as long as the one from today.  Two years ago I got stung three times at once.  I found out the hard way that there was a nest in a boxwood shrub in my front yard...I was trimming it and found a nest with the trimmer.  I'm lucky I didn't get bit more than three times. 

I used one of those long spraying insecticides for such a situation and destroyed whatever was living in that nest.  I also almost completely destroyed the boxwood.  That stuff is bad...pesticides.  It killed about one third of the boxwood and I almost decided to remove the boxwood and give it a decent burial.  It was dying slowly, mostly from the roots out.  I decided to let it live and see what I could do to bring it back.  I planted a rose bush in front of it and let nature take its course.  The shrub finally stopped dying and started to grow again.  This year, two years later I was able to tie it together and make it look normal. 

I'm not sure if there is a moral there.  Well, the moral I guess is use those pesticides wisely...use them only if you have to.  Do we have to?  I never will again.  But all karmic disturbances aside, it was a good weekend.  They're all good.  It's good to be alive, good to be alive to get bit by a bee, to have feelings, to go for bike rides, spend time with friends and family, feel the sun on our faces or the rain on our skin etc...all the things we sometimes take for granted.  Life!

Your homework: go outside and get bit by bee.  It will prove you are alive.  (Do not take part in this exercise if you are allergic to bees).  In fact, don't actually do this at all...just trying to make a point...

Peace and until next time: Gå og leve livet!

Three Rabbits and a Dead Cat

Went for a bike ride after work yesterday.  It was a beautiful day.  Was tired and was going to stay home but dragged the bike out and headed for the woods.  Saw a rabbit right away, scampering along doing its thing.  Living in the NOW.  Then there were two more and who knows what those two were up to.  They were all enjoying a marvelous day.  They weren't carrying around anything from the past and they weren't concerned about anything other than what they were doing at that moment.  Marvelous!  It was said before but we can learn a lot from the animal world.

Eventually went to a place to do some hill work (to get stronger at climbing hills).  At the top of the hill there was a dead cat that must have recently been hit by a car.  It looked like my cat Simon, a ragdoll.  They should never go outside. They are not smart about traffic and they are too trusting.  It probably got loose.  This was sad to see but Zen teaches that there is no difference between that dead cat and those living rabbits.

We all come and go on this planet (and perhaps to others).  We live many lives in physical form and our true selves live forever.  That cat's journey in that particular role is over.  We all have roles in our daily lives and roles in each of our lives.  These "roles" are not who we really are.  Who we really are is what we were before we were born and after we die.  It should be a happy time to go back home.  The cat is back home and perhaps soon to receive a new role.  Life and death is the same in Zen as the true self never dies.  The cat is not dead it just no longer needs that particular shell.  That dead cat is not the cat.  Make sense?

This relates well to what is now going on with Ralphy, my dog.  He is going on 15 years old and has been sick off and on for the last year or so.  He has dimentia and can't hear or see very well.  He also is not drinking enough water and is getting constantly dehydrated.  He has been to the vet regularly lately, most recently for a large lump on his neck.  It is getting better with antibiotics.  His dimentia is better with meds.  He sleeps better with the help of Xanax, a tranquilizer.  This life journey for him is coming to a close.  It is sad.  He is part of the family and has been for a long time.  But, it is also not sad because soon he is going back home.

Death is a part of life and life is part of a bigger picture which is beyond what most of us can understand.  We are not the body we inhabit.  We are what is left when our body is gone.  We are what we were before we were born.  We are as infinite as the universe.

Peace and clear mind...

The Zen of Simon

Simon (my ragdoll) is very Zen.  He spends much of his time meditating as you can see here.  He definitely lives in the now.  Now he wants to nap…so he naps.  When he wants to he will: eat, drink water, clean, stare at me, walk around the house talking and so forth.  He focuses on the task at hand.  He follows the just do it philosophy. 

He’s not carrying around any baggage.  He doesn’t feel bad about the smell of the bombs he drops in the litter box.  He carries no ill will towards Carly (our other cat who’s half his size) even though she regularly jumps him and bites him.  He carries no remorse for the many times he has jumped on top of her, pinning her down. 

He’s not concerned about what will be after this nap.  He is napping therefore he is napping.  Nothing else.  Clear mind.  The future will be.  He is not concerned by it.  We humans have the ability to think ourselves into a nervous breakdown.  Simon epitomizes “no worries.”  We humans could learn a lot from cats.