11.30.09
Wild Life
This week’s Comedy Around the World goes into the woods. To run with my dogs. We usually run through the woods and in an area where seeing a bear can be a common event. Especially if you are running and without a weapon. (That’s the time they usually appear).
I’ve had about 4 or 5 of these bear encounters. And each time, I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid. My dog was afraid. Luckily there were never any disasters. Usually the bears didn’t notice us. Or, they ran the other direction. One time, my dog chased a bear cub into a tree, then ran out ahead of me. When I turned to look at the bear cub, the mother bear was standing on her hind legs looking for the one who had chased her baby into the tree.
A lot of life involves things that surprise us. Doesn’t even have to involve wildlife. Things happen that scare us. We don’t know how to respond. But sometimes, no response is the best response.
Think of being in that ‘humor zone’, where nothing rattles you. You are on your toes, and in the flow. That’s what it feels like when I’m running. And when a bear would approach (or we would approach it), the meeting was merely a bump in the road. I didn’t need to know what to do–my legs knew. They knew they could speed up, change directions, or figure another way out.
I couldn’t always think of a solution when in this wild life scenario. The good news is, we don’t always have to have all the answers all of the time. If we are in that ‘zone’, we will be agile. Able to adapt. We will know the correct response because we will be free from stress. We will be able to think clearly.
What ‘bear’ will you encounter this week? And how will YOU respond?
