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Writer's pictureLeslie Bevans

2: river ways

Dear Friend,

 

Today is January 14th. According to statistics, by now, most New Year resolutions will have “failed.” I’m not sure that ‘fail’ is the right word. In making a resolution we hold ourselves accountable to make different, better, (possibly fewer) choices. We attempt to break a habit or shake up a rut.

 

First, we become aware of a desire to make a change. We wait until the time is exactly right, say, New Year’s Day, to attempt this change. And we take a stab at embedding this change into our lives. Throughout the distractions of a day, our level of awareness fluctuates. Priorities change. We live on, making choices and our resolution is no longer in the front of the line.

 

But just because we fail to accomplish the resolution every day, doesn’t mean that our attempt to make a change has ‘failed.’ Sometimes success is found in simply realizing … awareness fluctuates, desires fluctuate, no two days are the same, we are never the same as we were the day before. So, though we attempt to maintain Daily-Success-At-Changing, what we might really need to maintain is our awareness.

 

Isabella Bunny had free run of our house. I wrote about her in 2023 Tracks by the Post no.15, bunnies and other music. She had a predictable, daily routine. She made it clear (by thumping her back feet) if she was upset by something like the distant cry of a hawk or if we moved the furniture. At snack time, Izzy would meet me at her cage. I’d change out her water, tidy up any spills, and offer her a sampling from her bag of Rain Forest Crunch.

Choose, Izzy,” I would say.

Invariably, she would rifle through the bowl with her nose until she found the dried banana. If that wasn’t there, she’d choose the chunk of papaya. She expected to have a choice. If neither the banana or the papaya was available, she would indicate (by snorting) that I needed to dig deeper into the bag.

That’s all there is,” I would say.

Then she would take not one, but two, of whatever was left, usually avoiding the alfalfa pellets as those are for ‘rabbits’ not ‘bunnies.’

 

Izzy was aware. Izzy was ‘on,’ always teaching patience, acceptance, adaptability, respect, gentleness… instructing us on Bunny Ways. Apparently, in Chapter 1 of Izzy’s Master Class for Indoor Bunnies: Ruling the Household, awareness and choice are key components of success.

 

Watch a drop of rain on a window pane. Do you see how it seems to team up and merge with other drops and run together along a little stream, sometimes horizontally, only to combine with another stream and finally run down and quickly drip into a puddle below? Water chooses, almost like it is aware of the best direction. It moves together, forming streams, pooling in ponds, running further as rivers into lakes, continuing on into the ocean only to be evaporated and returned as that rain drop on your window pane. Is it aware?

 

“No man ever steps in the same river twice for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”


That quote is attributed to a man named Heraclitus who lived so long ago (c. 500 B.C.E.) that it is difficult to imagine his words running on through time, finding us today. I get it, you may not be a ‘man,’ neither am I, but for me, the take away is, ‘Who am I in this moment, am I aware?’

 

Change finds everything.

 

Consider a river and its river ways. Raindrops combining, moving, changing the land, changing direction, changing our perspective. Frank has photographed hundreds of rivers, each experience, a gift of life and light and peace to his soul… here is a sampling for you to enjoy.











 

Our thanks to you for being here to read Tracks by the Post. We'd love to hear from you... when you have a moment, please DROP US A LINE. Wishing you a beautiful week ahead.

 

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank

 

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