Observation ~ The Rabbit

Just Doing Rabbit Stuff

        This morning, as I often do, I was looking out my kitchen window and simply watching and observing the day begin. As I watched, I noted a small wild rabbit making its way around the yard, just doing rabbit stuff. Over the years I’ve had every creature from rabbits to deer, a whole family of groundhogs, possum, and all kinds of birds grace my backyard space, and I’ve always enjoyed just watching them do their thing. The observation itself allows me to step out of my head for a few minutes and start the day fresh w/ a joyful moment. 

'Mr. McGregor’s' Yard to the Left

‘No, Peter! Don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden!’

Joy, however, is not always the outcome of observation. Sometimes that moment can feel much heavier. As I watched this local bunny making it's way closer and closer to the neighbors' fence it brought up some concern for its well-being (not that I could do anything about it but observe). I have an elder neighbor that has been known to poison, trap, and sometimes even shoot the critters that unfortunately roam over into his garden. That said, it was fortunate (for the rabbit) that it may have been early enough, what w/ the sun barely peeking over the Mnt. Jefferson ridgeline, that they may have gone sight unseen. In my observation, the thought that occurred was ‘No, Peter! Don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden!’. Needless to say ‘Peter’ shuffled around the gate and in they went. I found myself in my observation of that moment w/ a sense of sorrow in the knowledge of what would likely happen in the eventuality that the neighbor finds them lackadaisically trifling through the garden later this summer. 

Being a participant in your own life is sometimes harder than one might think; participating as ‘the observer’ perhaps harder still. We get so caught up in our own heads, don’t we? Oftentimes, the constant thinking and rehashing, and droning on ad nauseam in the cycle of thought and reflection can be overwhelming. In an effort to release the anxiety sometimes created by that overwhelming monotonous cacophony of self-speak it’s important to occasionally become the observer.

True, observing yourself and your surroundings can be a cause for anxiety as well. Then again, for those of us (that’s a lot of ‘those’ btw) w/ anxiety disorders, which may possibly be the new catch-all in the psychiatric community, we can get anxious about just about anything and in almost any social setting, or none at all. The trick, I think (<<< J), is to allow the observation to be just that. We tend to lace observation, especially self-observation, w/ judgment. 

Don't Judge, Just Observe

Instead of judging, instead of allowing ourselves to get so caught up in what we observe it’s important to simply process the emotions as what they are, fleeting randomness of the heart and mind. Observation, whether joyful or sorrowful, doesn’t require judgment, it just IS.

Observation sparks, perhaps, the grandest illusions of the feelings of joy, and of sorrow.