Friday, March 22, 2013

Mouse Man

Always know your exits
Today's recurring Spirit Animal is The Mouse. Pulled from the card deck by Fernando and then showing up in the grain bin this morning he wants to tell us something.

The thing that struck me about the mouse in the bin is that it is incredibly deep, slick of side and was going to be impossible to get out. Sure, it's full of goodies but had Mouse thought about dying in there with millet and cracked corn? Probably not. He just wanted the goodies.

That's the message of Mouse Medicine. You're either looking at things too closely while the world passes you by or you're looking at a goal far ahead and all the details of the here and now are going untended.



Micro managing, over editing, monkey mind chatter, errand running without enjoying the process, mindless eating and most definitely wigging out over the small stuff is Mouse face. Ask yourself, Why Do I Make This Matter? I have a friend who absolutely hates anyone to clean her kitchen after dinner. You'll load the washer wrong, you'll use the wrong sponge, you won't rinse the soap off the knives...this may be the case, but it's a temporary error and absolutely not worth complaining about. Just for the record, there is no WRONG way to clean my kitchen. I'm just happy somebody else is doing it. But cleaning aside, what is the real issue here?

Those big Mouse eyes and complete focus allow Mouse to get into some tight places and find what he's looking for, but because he's too close to it he hasn't Plan Next. An exit strategy. A point. I'm here. Now what? Or, I made everyone stop helping me in the kitchen, now I'm overwhelmed and alone feeling. Shit.

Mouse in the contrary (pulling the card upside down, or shown here like our friend, without an exit strategy) usually means you're seeing Big Macro, but you're not tending details. Doing 5 loads of laundry but never putting it away. Spending a lot of time making a wood countertop but not sealing it properly so it rots in the rain.

Are you so focused on Getting Published, Being Recognized, Losing Weight, Meeting Your Soulmate, Making Money ---that you're leaving your art, your partner, your friends laying around like a weedy garden? Have you let yourself go? Forgotten about your health by eating and jacking on caffeine  running to catch that brass ring (that may not exist) ---? Check yourself.

A lot of what you're striving for could be right where you are. We are suspicious of things that seem to come too easily and so overlook what often just falls in our laps. Natural Talents and Skills always trump Challenging. Life is hard. Go for what you know. Contrary Mouse is a little delusional and harder to snap out of. Goal setting and manifesting is fine, but state your intent and go back to the here and now. Don't live in Future Town Maybe When I Get There World. When I'm a size 10, when I get married, when I move to Kansas, when I'm on the Tonight Show. It may never happen. And you'll spend a lot of time kicking yourself for not "achieving". Meh. Let it go.

That's the ultimate message and challenge nearly every day isn't it. Right here. Right now.