I have had a few talks with our local chipmunk and wren. It pains me to see them jerking around all the time, jump here, snap there. I have emphasized that life is too full and too amazing and actually too fleeting to be in such a hurry all the time. Like people, they let their perky little egos get in the way. "So busy, so much to do!", the wren's body language repeats, here, there, over there and then right back to where it was a minute ago, all the while staying vigorously on the alert.
I have been trying to teach the chipmunk to S-L-O-W-L-Y turn its head. Walk! Don't leap and leap and leap. Just calmly walk across the deck. No scurrying, no leaping. At a slight slower pace, it could see better, learn better, enjoy better. Despite my best efforts, both animals resist. They explain that it is not them, but me. My nervous system has longer distances to transmit impulses, my cavernous brain has so much stuffed in it, there are so many decision gates and verifications that have to be performed. As a result, they say, I have a twisted view of life: move it! It's a better way to live.
Don't worry, I will persist. I will continue on with my lectures, my bribes, my attempts at persuasion. If you come across noticeably relaxed chippies and wrens with equanimous attitudes, clearly taking life in stride and savoring it, credit my efforts, ok?
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