Gentleness

So often in our culture gentleness is equated with weakness. There is actually great strength achieved in gentleness. I am a very large man. By that I mean that I am very tall and, with a bald head, can look foreboding to people who are of a smaller stature.

I remember what it was like to be a young boy and have everyone be much bigger than I was at the time. I remember feeling small and insignificant and I also remember how some adults were oblivious to that matter and didn't treat me well as a result of that oblivion and of their own harsh natures.

For this reason, I like to incorporate the energy of the deer whenever I am dealing with children. They come to know me as a gentle giant as a result. I like to talk with them as equals and allow them the honor of talking with me in the same way. Whenever possible, I like to get down to their height and look them in the eye when communicating. That way I might not seem so intimidating to them. They really respond well to this. I think that had someone done this for me when I was little, I might not have been so afraid of the world when growing up. This blog, according to my Love, is short and sweet, so ulike me in the first part and so like me in the second!

Blessed Be
Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com

Life is Fragile

Some of the most beautiful things in life don't last. A flower, a sunset, a smile. I find that humans are the ones who tend to destroy beauty in nature. We plow down forests to make room for highways, level mountains to put up cities, and create noisy play toys to use in rivers and lakes that are otherwise peaceful. I remember being horrified at seeing the peacocks at the zoo being chased by kids who only wanted to pull their beautiful tail feathers out of them. Their parents didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with their kids terrorizing these beautiful creatures. How would they like to be left bald because someone decided that it would be fun to collect their hair follicles? Try attracting a mate in that state!

Life itself can be quite fragile. Whether we are "losing our feathers" or just happen to be in the way of something or someone else at the wrong time, things can get broken. It is amazing how many broken people there are out there in the world. We don't always recognize them as being broken. Some are very good at masking how they feel. Some are very good at hiding what happens to them every day. You don't have to be a bald peacock to be broken and battered. Have you ever had one of those days where, for a variety of reasons, you are just more sensitive to stuff around you than usual? These are the days when meaningless off hand remarks can hurt us deeply. Nobody really means to cause us harm, they just do because we are more sensitive that day and they are not sensitive enough to know that what they are saying might sting.

We need, on days like these, to be gentle with ourselves. We need to remind ourselves that we are capable of going with the flow and that not everything in the world is directed at ourselves. We need to understand that gentleness and fragility are two different things. We might be fragile, but if we can bring ourselves to be gentle with ourselves and with others, then we decrease the likelihood of hurting ourselves or anyone else. In fact, our gentleness can turn out to be our greatest strength. When we are gentle, fewer things actually intimidate or frighten us. And when something or someone tries to, then we gently pass it by and keep going on our way. We don't have to fight or even fight back, we simply move on and leave whatever the situation is to its own self-destruction. In the meantime, we continue to grow our feathers back so that, one day, some way, we can once again fly.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

The Winds of Change

For those of you who don't know me, I am an Air elemental. I belong to the Butterfly Clan, according to the Medicine Wheel. We often do 10 things all at one time and multi task with that very well. We are expansive thinkers and very sociable creatures. All of this is wonderful, for a Butterfly Clan person. However, we can also change with the wind. And when we do, we can drive other elementals around us crazy. Just when you think those butterfly wings are nailed down, poof! We flutter off and don't come back for quite some time. We are too busy socializing to be nailed down to anything.

This is actually a delightful medicine to carry. You see, most people find change to be something that threatens them. They have gotten stuck in the fight or flight aspects of reality. Butterfly Clan people take empty handed leaps into the unknown and find ourselves with either a nice solid place to land or with wings that help us learn how to fly more efficiently.

I have recently taken such a leap. I have also experienced the judgement involved in taking that leap. Some find it to be extremely threatening to their paradigm of reality. They respond with hostility and uncertainty about who I am and what I am about. I feel that if they ever really knew me at all, they would have realized that their opinion of me matters little to me. So I am not that concerned by them.

What I am very impressed with is the amount of support that I have received from the community at large. Some have been in exactly my situation and have been way too afraid to do anything about it. They admire my courage. Some are in awe of the fact that I can do what I have to and still do it in a harmonious fashion. And most are very happy for me. These are people who "get it" when it comes to life and matters of the heart. And I just want to put out there that each and every one of them means a lot to me. This is not just because of the support (although that is wonderful in and of itself) but because they are on the journey and having the same challenges and struggling with the same issues. They, like me, are human. They are not caught up in the dogma of expectations. They are simply trying to do what is right for them. So to all of you out there, I thank you. Go gently.

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com