As I watched this squirrel feed on the bark of steak wood tree, I felt rather concerned. Squirrels normally feed on fruits, nuts, honey, etc. It is the first time I noticed a squirrel having to feed on bark. Is a squirrel experiencing the stress of fending for itself!
I watched hundreds of farmers from different parts of Maharashtra walking on the highway yesterday towards Mumbai, in protest and to represent to the government about the stressful experiences they go through. It is the fifth such mass protest in different parts of India in the last six months.
I met with a few students who finished their final MBBS examination and area bout to leave for their holiday before they start internship. The question in their mind was about the NEET examination and all that lie ahead to secure a post graduate admission in the subject of their choice.
A family dropped in with their twins who were born preterm and now struggling in their developmental process. The mother stopped working and I could sense in their tone of vice and conversation stress about the future!
I received a telephone call from a doctor who carry anxiety about her nine month old baby which seems to have consumed her into state anxiety!
An administrator in the college I work, spoke to me yesterday about the different relational stresses he faces at work!
Following the terrorist attack on security personnel in Kashmir leading to eh death of forty of them, there is a n intense posturing of political parties about the failure of the government to act on intelligence reports they received about a possible attack on the security personnel. The mourning period is now charged with emotional blackmail!
I come home from work thinking of these only to feel that humans choose to invite upon themselves the burden of living!
But the squirrel in the garden reminds me of another way of living- 'If I do not get the food I normally like, I shall be satisfied with what I can find'!
Is that self resignation!
Let me suggest that only occasionally we can change the circumstances in which we live! What is easy to change is our inner orientation!
A farmer in my village, has given up land farming as it is risky and moved on to cattle and poultry farming. This gives him enough and more. A resident doctor waiting for his post graduate training has evolved a method of studying which according is comfortable enough for him to secure a post graduate e admission rather than take a yer off to attend coaching classes. A family with three children who have developmental needs visit us often and encourage and inspire us because of the ease and comfort with which they adjust to their circumstances.
As human we are not just achievers alone, or mere survivors ! We are called to live our lives in the realm of abundance! Abundance even when living is stress prone.
Dulcie, our dog would come a few times when Anna or I work at our desks, give a lick and quietly settle down near us. She is more than satisfied with a stroke we might offer.
There is a message in this. Dulcie lives relationally. She comes to us because she has a sense of belonging!
I wonder, whether amidst all the stressful experience we might go through, we carry this sense of belonging!
We belong to the human family. This consciousness would set us free from the burden of living. In the human family we are 'neighbours' to each other. Jesus of Nazareth said; 'Love your neighbour as yourself'!
Living relationally in a bond of peace of love is slipping away form human family. The outcome is stressful living.
The squirrel has found its way of living on the bark of teak tree! We might not get what we like, but we can like what we get because, we feel loved and cared for by our neighbours!
Later in the day, I found the squirrel finding its favourite food !
I found this as a revelation in my life.
There is another way of living than the stressful living! Grow in contentment with the present, however demanding it might be, which is only a prelude to all the good things in store for us, 'which God has kept for those who turn to Him'!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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