The Mouse:
Late one evening, stepping out of the shower in the second bathroom of the home where I was housesitting, I heard a strange sound and looked down, startled to discover a mouse that was leaping up, attempting to jump back out of the trash can in which it had inadvertently imprisoned itself.
I was aware that I had been wondering about a humane way to get rid of the mice and had been envisioning one possible scenario in which I found some container in which to entrap them and to carry them far away from the house. Here was my opportunity.
Tuning in, I "got" to just leave the mouse alone and let it be. So I walked away and left it to its fate.
Then next morning, after a restless night of wondering if the mouse had made it out, not wanting it to starve to death, pondering again whether I should take it far away from the house while it was trapped and let it loose (it was pouring rain and I was not eager to go out in the cold and wet) I checked and was actually quite surprised to find that it had escaped!
From this mouse incident, I could see that sometimes people who look like they’re in an impossible situation are actually quite capable of getting themselves out of it in by themselves and just need to be left alone and trusted and allowed to do it their own way in their own time.
The Spider:
A couple of days later, I discovered a spider that had trapped itself in the bathtub in the main bathroom, unable to climb up the slippery sides of the tub.
Again I tuned in and this time got that it did indeed want my help in getting out. But every time I tried to “catch it” to take it out it scurried away from me. So I left it alone until I awoke the next morning with the inspiration to put a towel down, hanging it over the side of the tub, so the spider could use it to climb out of the tub in his own good time.
When I went back later that afternoon, not only had the spider climbed out, but it had climbed up some dresses I had left hanging on the shower rod
and crawled across and down onto the towel I was currently using, hanging on - right at my eye level.
From the spider incident, I could see that sometimes when people are stuck, all they need is to be thrown a “towel” and left alone to work things out their own way, in their own time.
The Little Brown Bird
On this particular day something was making an almighty racket as it had evidently fallen down into the chimney of the wood stove and gotten trapped. I really didn’t want to deal with this at all and when I discovered it was a bird, I had visions of the bird getting loose and flying around the house depositing soot everywhere.
I didn’t see any way that it could fly back up the long narrow chimney, so unless I rescued it, the bird was doomed to a slow, extremely noisy and unhappy (for both of us) death. It finally sounded like the bird had settled down quietly inside the open fireplace part of the stove, so I went to see if I could somehow manage to get it out.
I pulled out the grate, but discovered that the closing mechanism didn’t work, and - not finding the bird - had great difficulty replacing the screen once again. A while later I discovered that the bird had somehow gotten free and was banging around the room with it’s huge glass windows. I opened the door, but it flew upstairs to the second story where it became obvious that I was going to have to capture it to get it outside before it damaged itself any more than it already had.
After a phone call to my sister, who apprised me of preferred bird catching techniques, and many rounds of hide-and-seek with the bird, I finally cornered it and got a cloth wrapped around it, and - even though it nipped me (the ungrateful wretch) - was finally able to catch it and set it gently on the back deck. When I removed the cloth it took off with a mighty (and healthy) swoosh of wings. (Big sigh of relief!!!)
I didn’t think to get a picture of the bird while we were frantically engaged with each other, but since, I see similar birds everywhere I go on the island. Free, happy . . . and carefully keeping their distance.
From the little brown bird incident, I saw that sometimes when some creature (or person) is frantically banging around in your environment, it IS most beneficial FOR BOTH OF YOU for you to gently but firmly remove the intruder and set them free to go on about their life elsewhere - even if you do get nipped in the process.
My conclusion:
Those of us who have lived the roles of rescuer/victim/bully/martyr etc. are being given opportunities to shift into recognizing all beings as creators of their personal realities, and, most especially, ourselves. With our growing multi-dimensional awareness, it becomes easier and easier to understand that “rightness” or “wrongness” can only be perceived from a finite, limited. single reference point, and that what appears “wrong” from my personal perspective may actually be quite “right” from the perspective of the being whom I am observing.
Life is getting so much more peaceful and enjoyable now that I don’t have to try to save/fix/teach everyone in every situation that comes my way!
Hallelujah!!!
