2/8/2018 0 Comments Lessons from Coyote.I am taking some time off, away from the everyday fray of city life, spending a few days with my parents in the Santa Ynez Valley out in the country on the five acres surrounding their home. I love taking walks up the road as the views of the canyons and the vistas of the valley beyond are breathtaking and relaxing to the mind and exhilarating to the body. The wind is always blowing up through the canyons to the top where the road is and brings hawks swooping up on the air currents and then floating down. The whole experience was taking me out of my reverie of the mundane that happens while living in a city. The constant cars, ambulances and police sirens that blend with the cacophony of leaf blowers and lawn mowers in the neighborhood where I live can be unnerving and disturbing. And although I love my backyard with my Sam dog where for the most part it can be quiet at times, there is nothing like the sounds of a rural area with the multitude of bird song and scurrying of small creatures foraging for food and tending their homes underground. And it was the latter that surprised me on my walk and gave me pause. As I was stopping to take a drink of water about 50 feet in front of me I watched as a coyote came up over the ridge, crossed the road and heading down the other side. I was transfixed as I watched this quiet stealthy creature trot along his way not even noticing me as I was down wind. It was both exciting and a bit scary as I was so close to a wild animal that was a predator. I put the cap back on my water bottle and proceeded up the road and stopped where he had crossed and I moved to the edge where he had proceeded down the canyon and finally my eyes rested on him almost at the bottom where he was sniffing around and then turned and looked up to see me looking at him. We both watched each other for awhile then he turned and trotted up the side of the hill and then turned again to see if I was still there. I continued to watch him for a time and finally he turned again and slipped silently into a grove of oak trees and disappeared. I released the breath I was holding and felt an internal sigh of appreciation for the gift of seeing this part of the wild world that I do not often see or engage in a moment of watching. I proceeded on my way up the road and then eventually turned around and headed back to my parent’s house. But it was as I was hiking down this old road that I realized that I was on the road but the coyote had crossed it and had proceeded on his own path. He had come up the canyon from below crossed the road and then headed down the other side. The road wasn’t really a part of his path at all. I thought about this as I safely walked along this road and suddenly saw that witnessing this wild creature make his own path that perhaps he had taken many times before albeit slightly different each time as the exact path was not evident, was riveting to me. Here I was taking this safe path on the road and here he was crossing it on his own path. How many times do we as humans take the paths that are set before us and stay safely within the boundaries of this confining and sometimes restricting direction. The coyote was not daunted by a path that was undefined or perhaps it was defined by something I could not see with my limited perception. Perhaps he smelled the path or saw subtle signs that his pack had traveled through that canyon before? What ever the case here he was and here I was. The difference evident in the chosen paths we were taking. I see the message from nature as a clear call to not always trust the safe road but to take a chance on blazing a trail of our own. Using our innate nature, our wild side to assist us in making a true decision based on internal gut instincts can be the best way to change our life course for the better. When we ignore blindly traveling a road that is not our own we limit the possibilities of deeply connecting to what is best for us. When we listen to the subtle callings of our soul and our deepest selves we find that the safety of the road before us may be the very dismantling of our dreams. The coyote was following an innate path made by following his instincts and perceptions of knowing what he needed. Where can we make changes in our paths by tuning into the very instinct to follow our dreams and the callings of our soul? Perhaps the way before us can be found by going off course a bit, hiking down the canyon and crossing over the stream and by finding a new way to move along our life path. I will be forever thankful to coyote for showing me that life does not always need to follow a designated path and that I can trust myself to blaze a trail through unknown territory to find the best and even safest direction that will bring me to my hearts destination. Life is an amazing gift too precious to always relegate to the path that is made by someone else. Take a chance my friends, trust your gut and make the choice to do that which is pleasing to the wild nature of your heart!!
Blessings on your way!! AnnKathleen Mistress of Alchemy
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