Last night I went to see Eckhart Tolle speak about consciousness and being present. Having never seen him live before, I was taken by his sense of humour and his relatability. He could have talked about something as boring as how to brush your hair, and I still would have been hooked.
One story he told really grabbed my attention though. It was about when he was writing one of his books and he took a break to take a walk in the park. While he was there, he saw a couple of ducks fighting like crazy. Then, within a minute, they stopped and swam off as if nothing had ever happened.
This led him to realise that many animals simply don’t have the capacity to stew over past events, like us humans do. Their brains are different and they literally can’t do it. They come across a problem, deal with it and forget about it.
Most animals live in the present. Something that we can also do if we choose. Living in the present will make us much happier than living in the past or the future. All we have to do is be more like the animals.
This is just another example of animal wisdom. Animals have so many things to teach us, if only we take the time to observe them. So much of what they do could improve our lives if we were to adopt the same behaviours.
I write a lot about animal wisdom and I have learnt so much from our four legged, winged, finned, furred and scaled friends, that I don’t think I will ever run out of things to say. I believe sharing the insights is important, not just because they can improve our life satisfaction, but because it can help in the protection of the environment.
The more people can appreciate what animals and the natural world can help us with, the more they will want to ensure that it isn’t destroyed. The more appreciation they have for the natural world, the kinder they are to it.
Many mainstream people find the concept of animal wisdom ‘a bit too out there’ to ever take it seriously. That’s okay. Those people should follow whatever makes them happy. What I will say is that if Eckhart frigging Tolle can appreciate what animals have to teach us, so can the rest of us.
(I acknowledge that many mainstream people won’t know who Eckhart Tolle is, but he’s a BIG DEAL okay? HUGE!)
So let’s all start to show some more respect for the animals that we share this planet with. They have their shit together in a lot more ways than we do, most of the time. Plus they are cute. And funny.
Have animals taught you any lessons? What were they?