Having just returned from an extraordinary three weeks in Namibia, I wanted to share an experience with you. On our first day volunteering at a wildlife animal sanctuary, we were informed that a Honey Badger had been caught in a trap by a local farmer and the team had been to collect it for release on the reserve. Animals such as Honey badgers, lions, cheetahs and leopards are often shot by farmers as they believe that they kill their livestock. Just to give you an idea, the Honey Badger is alleged to be pound for pound the most ferocious animal in the world.
We moved the caged and by now angry badger to an area on the plains and with everyone at a safe distance, the cage door was eventually lifted and he was free to go. The problem was that he had been facing the wrong way and didn’t realise the door behind him was now open. As we watched this amazing animal go from an angry state to frustrated and then stressed, it made me realise how often we can get distracted by emotion. Often when I get frustrated my mind gets polluted and I can’t see the solution Or in the Badgers case, the open door to freedom. You can watch what happened below:
It wasn’t until my journey studying the 3 Principles that I began to see the learning and information in a feeling. As we are always feeling our thinking in the moment, every feeling is therefore thought created. This means that I don’t have to look for reasons as to why I am feeling a certain way. I am feeling this way because I am thinking this way and the system is designed to self-correct without me having to do anything. The more that I am able to understand that there is information in the feeling, I recognise the role that my mind is playing. This alone allows my thoughts to settle and make it much easier for me to navigate my current challenge.
“I invite you to be aware of your stressful feelings. A feeling is like a mate to a thought appearing … If you have a thought, there’s a simultaneous feeling. And an uncomfortable feeling is like an alarm clock. Then we try to alter and manipulate the feeling by reaching into an apparent external world. …
“We’re usually aware of the feeling first. That’s why I say it’s an alarm clock that lets you know you’re stuck in a thought … [and] you may want to investigate.”
–Byron Katie “A mind at home with itself”
Don’t take my word for it, play around with this amazing gift and look for the information in the feeling.