Cold, clear and beautiful this Morning. It was 13 below zero F when Jamie got up at 6:30. I lulled in bed until it got to a balmy 10 below. I had to get out there and take care of the animals early. Sometimes on a Winter day I can wait until mid-morning before I check on them. Generally they have everything they need. However, when it is much below zero the water freezes in the chicken coop and I don't want a flock of thirsty irritated chickens on my hands. About forty chickens give off enough heat to keep the water from freezing until it gets around zero F. Chickens don't seem to get irritated but they will really go for the water if it has been frozen over.
Went it comes to water, sheep and goats are a puzzle. Unless they are lactating, they don't drink on a predictable basis. I water them using rubber tubs that hold about six gallons. If I remember, I empty them at night so they won't freeze. I didn't empty the goat water. This Morning it was frozen to the top, I don't think they drank a drop of water in a couple days. I have to lift up the tub and slam it on a stump or a rock or something to break the ice out. When there is this much snow, it doesn't do any good just to slam it on the ground. It took several tries to break the ice out. Wisely I filled it only half full with warm water, if they don't drink it, it will be easier to get the ice out. I have had sheep that preferred to eat snow in the Winter, but you don't know what you got until you can find that out. I have had other sheep that would never eat snow. I know goats prefer water. Both would probably eat snow in an emergency, but I could not withhold water from them to find out. Any way hauling water is all part of the Winter adventure, it keeps the body functioning.
Every season has its routine. In the Winter I have to haul water and hay out to my animals. I use a toboggan, it is made of heavy black plastic[?] it was designed to be pulled behind a snowmobile. It works very well except it is hard to pull on fresh snow. After you create a path, it glides along pretty well. I have about a hundred yards to travel to the barn and chicken coop.
Back in about 1980, I learned that vulnerability was strength. I understood the principle and believed it, but it didn't penetrate very deeply into my psyche. It has only been recently that I have appreciated how much I have my guard up, especially when it comes to some people. From my perspective, it wasn't obvious that I had my guard up. But when I looked at my reactions to certain things people might say, it was obvious.
What are we protecting, when we are defensive? When others are defensive, we might think they are silly. Do we see that when we are being defensive? I marvel how it can work with Jamie and me sometimes. One of us will say something off hand, perhaps innocently, the other reacts defensively, then the first one reacts to the reaction and away we go. We have had glorious fights over nothing. I use the word glorious, because we are glorious. Human beings are marvelous beings of light. Even when we are nuts, we are amazing.
Being vulnerable is knowing the truth. No one can really hurt us. We can only hurt ourselves. We create far more havoc by reacting defensively and experience more hurt and negativity, than we would if would see the other persons attack as their problem. We attack because we don't feel loved. All attack is a call for love.
So being vulnerable means letting down our guard. It is knowing we are lovable and that knowing cannot be attacked. If someone does attack it is clear it is their problem, they are coming from a place of lack. They are calling for love. A loving look, gesture or comment is all that is needed.
How do we become so confident in our lovableness that we can permit ourselves to be vulnerable? How can we be so peaceful that our boats won't be rocked by an errant remark? I think it is a question of authorship. If we accept that we are part of source and that source is unconditional love, are we not love? Okay, we might understand that intellectually, how do we feel it? How do we make it true for us?
Those of us who have experienced meditation may have discovered the peace and love, the immense quiet, the vastness that seems to be our reality. That realization can help in realizing the unconditional love, that Is. That Is, is Source.
Any of us, accomplished meditators or not, can learn to feel the love of Source. Close your eyes imagine you are like a planet circling a Sun. The Sun is love. Feel the warmth on your body. Feel the love penetrating your being. Spend some time every day just focusing on Love. Feel the Love of Source {God if you prefer} radiating and penetrating your being, making you one with its vastness.
We have nothing to be defensive about. Our vulnerability is our strength.
Love and Peace, Gregg
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