A hedgehog is very centered. So is an armadillos, they do what they do. Maybe muttering to themselves, but not really committed to the muttering. If something comes up they go inside. They don’t run and hide. They don’t get skittish. They just go inside and not do anything for a while. Then when things seem peaceful they go back to shuffling along muttering to themselves and eating food as they find it, or taking whatever else comes. Like my personal meditation style, any creature can be centered in their nature, dynamic and active, but no less centered.  Their world consists of now and what they need to feel well, to feel balanced. They see the ground in front of them very clearly and know when they push past the next grass hillock they will see something different, and that’s ok.

How many of you have cats or dogs, or some other sort of pet? Even when a cat is acting squirrelly, they aren’t off center. It isn’t anxiety. They come from center. When a cat settles down after their spontaneous action, they rest as fully as they acted. They seem to a human mind to move between states, but in fact they never left center. It’s we who move so nature looks different, but nature is naturally very consistent, very centered.  Your mice are watching. Your rats are centered in watching. Their way is watching.

In Native American shamanism they taught that people had totems for a reason. It wasn’t to make people seek what they didn’t already have, it was to remind them they already have it and can embrace it.  If a human has rat-like behaviours or cat-like, that’s ok, and they are more centered, more balanced when they accept the way of the dog, or the way of the rat, or cat.

I think of times when that feeling is strong and how different I feel. It feels more dynamic but also less disturbing doesn’t it? Extremely dynamic, alive, watching, aware of so much. And if you feel like running away to burrow into your nest that is ok. It doesn’t need to be judged. The wisdom of it is beyond anything you can arrive at by thinking.

Your rats aren’t always in their nest either, plenty of times they are perfectly happy to rummage. They don’t get anxious about if it’s right to rummage, or have sex with their mate, do they? Even if they aren’t safe, they are safe in their way, and they can’t be safe in another way. Anxiety comes from judging one’s actions.

Remind you of any extremely centered moments? You can still feel what they felt like can’t you? There is no special action needed to feel like that. When you stop worrying about special actions is when you can feel like that.  When you can say “I want a cookie”, and just go and get the cookie. Not worrying about the rightness of having a cookie.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~