Living with a Coyote
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In my years around the Native American ceremonies of the sweatlodge and vision quest I learned a bit about coyote medicine. The coyote is considered the trickster, among many other things, in most Native American traditions.
Photo courtesy of National Geographic
Later, as I began to deepen more into meditative practices I realized that I have been living with this trickster my whole life, in the form of my mind. It has been helpful for me to remember this in my journey. Have you seen this in yourself, the coyote like nature of your mind?
A major turning point in my journey was when I began to realize that I AM NOT MY MIND, I AM NOT MY THOUGHTS. I think many of us walk around in a trance, believing everything our minds are telling us. This is a sad condition to be in, please free yourself! I still fall into the trance often but then I realize Coyote has got me. Why do we get suckered in so often by the often times ridiculous and destructive propaganda of our own thinking?
Most of the time if I notice I am suffering in some way, feeling anxiety or worrying or depressed, if my tracking skills are good that day, I can track it back to some idiotic thought that has passed under my radar. That sneaky little devil got me again! This must be why the teachings tell us to be AWARE so we can notice when coyote is trying to sneak under the fence. Coyotes don’t like to be caught in the act, but even if they are, that won’t stop them from trying again. So, we need to be AWARE as much as we can.
Most of the time, if we examine our thoughts, we will notice that they are either not true, not very useful or not very original. Apparently some scientific study was done on our thinking and some ridiculously large percentage of our thoughts in any given day, something in the order of 90% WE HAD THE DAY BEFORE! Does this seem unnecessary to you at all? Think of the energy wasted in all this. Coyote is having a field day!
The important thing I want to convey is that it might be useful for some of us to realize that just because we think something, #1 that doesn’t mean that it’s true and #2 we don’t need to react to it in any way. We don’t need to DO anything about it, we can just let it go. Ahhhhhh… It can be helpful to have a friend to practice this with.
I’ll leave you with a question to ponder, if you are NOT our mind, NOT your thoughts then WHO ARE YOU?
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