Sometimes it helps us put things into perspective when we use analogies and metaphors. Recently, while working with a client, we happened upon a great metaphor using forest animals, particularly bunnies.
Condensed Version:
Bunnies make mistakes and sometimes these mistake are painful. Bunnies don’t waste time beating themselves up or listening to other animals that say “hey, you’re blue when you should be brown.” Heck no. Instead, the bunny does it’s bunny thing - hops around and eats yummies. Bunnies call this self-care. Something us humans need lots of but often forget!
Full Length Version:
1. Sometimes we hurt. Bunnies hurt, too. And sometimes other animals don't want to see/hear a hurt bunny because it makes them hurt. And hurting... hurts. And since it hurts to even imagine a bunny in any kind of pain, these animals avoid such imaginings. They also tell their bunny friends and family to stop hurting, stop talking about the hurt, and even to ignore the hurt. These animals may have temporarily forgotten how awful it feels to be hurting, and they don’t want to be reminded with bunny pain! They want the pain to go away as quickly as possible. They want the bunny to blend in. But bunnies know that it's important to feel whatever emotion they are feeling in order to move past it - to experience all the joys and pains of being a bunny. They even know that there are lessons in these joyful and painful moments!
2. We are all doing the best we can with what we know and have available to us. Bunnies know this truth. “I should know better!” Bunnies do not "should" all over themselves or each other. Sure, you can “should” all over yourself. And maybe you even did know better. But guess what? It’s all been said and done – and all you can do now is accept what is and move forward. So, spend some time accepting what is, release the need to change things, embrace the current reality and just experience your human emotions. Bunnies do not beat themselves up for eating the wrong berries. They don’t feel the need to be mad at themselves for eating the berries that made them poopy. They just have a poopy day and learn which berries make them feel poopy, so they can make better berry choices in the future. And, yes, sometimes it takes a bunny a couple rounds of eating the wrong berries to figure it out, but they usually do.
3. Bunnies know that every other bunny they meet comes from the same place and is forever connected to them through Spirit. Yup, bunnies are spiritual beings – you didn’t know? Each bunny is unique and has a very special purpose, but all bunnies are part of the same whole. Each bunny has a special journey. And bunnies, no matter how much they want to, can’t change another bunny’s journey. Bunnies try to remember that whatever bad or good stuff happens to one bunny, it’s all part of that bunny’s special journey of learning, and a higher purpose is always being served. All a bunny can do when they see another bunny eating the wrong berries is know that the poopy feeling it gets will teach it not to eat poopy berries.
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and An Indigo Celebration
