Thought is Like a Black and White Cat
I love my morning walks with the young dogs.
If I get an early enough start, there are far less distractions (birds, squirrels, skunks, other people, and dogs) so we walk and reflect and all is quiet and lovely. This morning was just such a walk. We climbed our hill, crested the top, then started down the long slope down.
Out of nowhere, breaking through the dark, streaks a black and white cat coming straight for us as fast as it can go.
I have terriers and they had a very terrier-like response. That was, shrieking at the top of their lungs and launching into the leash to give chase. As the cat flew by, I managed to hang on to all three terriers. Within a few steps we were back into the rhythm of our walk as though nothing had happened, and it suddenly occurred to me that this was a perfect metaphor for how thought works.
Thought come at us sometimes gently, but more often like that barrel-racing black cat. It is suddenly upon us, we believe it and we have a startle reaction as well as an experience that comes with that thought. There was no stopping the cat this morning, and there is no stopping a reactive thought either. However, what the terriers know, and we humans often forget, is once the cat is past, and it is clear they have no way of engaging with it, they return to a happier state of balance in the present moment almost immediately.
Thought works in exactly the same way, if we do not chase our thinking.
If we let it go by, we will naturally return to a state of presence that all of us prefer. In that state of presence, our senses are heightened, and we feel the beauty all around us. Even in times of war, conflict, great sorrow, frustration, and complexity, grabbing hold of thought keeps us tense, while shaking ourselves off and allowing a return to presence is always available and keeps wisdom streaming through us instead of adrenalin. This is how we are wired, how the ‘system’ that is built into all of us works. Experimentation with this is worth trying, as the more you can align with the operating system that comes with life, the better will be your experience of life, and the wiser and more effective you will be.
Our intellect and ego will try to change our thinking so we are calmer and happier.
That only keeps us engaged with thought, which is the opposite of what we are attempting to achieve. Let it go by like that black cat did this morning and take notice that wisdom fills the gap where the frustration, anxiety, and tension once was.