Strawberries

Friday, November 29

Today’s post is by guest author Heather Johnston. The text is a quote from Tibetan Buddhist author and teacher Pema Chödrön.

There is a story of a woman running away from tigers. She runs and runs and the tigers are getting closer and closer. When she comes to the edge of a cliff, she sees some vines there, so she climbs down and holds on to the vines. Looking down, she sees that there are tigers below her as well. She then notices that a mouse is gnawing away at the vine to which she is clinging. She also sees a beautiful little bunch of strawberries close to her, growing out of a clump of grass. She looks up and she looks down. She looks at the mouse. Then she just takes a strawberry, puts it in her mouth, and enjoys it thoroughly. Tigers above, tigers below. This is actually the predicament that we are always in, in terms of our birth and death. Each moment is just what it is. It might be the only moment of our life; it might be the only strawberry we’ll ever eat. We could get depressed about it, or we could finally appreciate it and delight in the preciousness of every single moment of our life.

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When I read this passage, I feel my shoulders tense. I think, how could you possibly tell someone to enjoy a strawberry in this situation. She should be terrified and should not try to force herself to enjoy a strawberry when the only rational emotion is panic!

But of course, my reaction illustrates the very point of the message. Yes, panic may be the most natural response. But we cannot control every situation. The point is not to force oneself to ignore the situation, suppress the panic, and white-knuckle through eating a strawberry. The point is to acknowledge the situation, feel the panic, embrace your fate, and still enjoy the strawberry all the while.