Squirrels of Wisdom

One Squirrel Heart

2012-01-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

It's morning and I'm sitting here on the couch contemplating my squirrelove, Bucky. Listening to Deva and Miten singing "Aad Guray", tears flow spontaneously... little Bucky is visiting me again!

Where do the tears come from?

They come from the One Squirrel Heart!

Like Kahlil Gibran said,

"When you love you should not say,

"God is in my heart," but rather,

"I am in the heart of God."

I would rewrite that to read:

"When you love you should not say,

"Little squirrel is in my heart," but rather,

"I am in the heart of the Squirrel."

I would further simplify this to:

"There is nothing but the One Squirrel Heart."

Everything proceeds from and is included in the

One Squirrel Heart!

Squirrels already know this and live it.

If you've had the privilege of living with a squirrel,

you know what I mean.

Squirrels live in oneness.

As Candice O'Denver says in Naked Intelligence:

"There is no two. That is the importance of resting as awareness.

We refine our perception to allow for the fact that there is no two, that the reality appearance is just as it is. It doesn't need to be changed.

It's a perfectly pure appearance of awareness,

and it goes so much against everything we learned,

that it can be kind of startling sometimes to see

what we're really made of, to just allow everything to be as it is,

and not go for the bypass."

My bypass or antidote was Bucky. Every morning he would splay out on my left shoulder

as I sipped my Brazilian coffee.

I had come to really depend on this sweet "squirrel sadhana" to get into a really nice state of clarity.

However, Sri Buckyji, being the loving guru that he was, reminded me,

"If you see the buddha on the road,

kill him!" Bucky was in fact my buddha and

asked me to release him!

Now as I sit here with myself, I can speak from the

One Squirrel Heart~

There is no antidote that can bring about uncontrived compassion or bring us beyond dualistic thinking. Because in depending upon any antidote, we enter the world of "two"... and we miss the truth:

We already are what we're looking for!

We are that love... we are compassion!

This was Bucky's message.

Don't look for another antidote.

Don't look for any curative measure!

Just let everything be as it is!
In Candice's words:

"We allow all the thoughts we've tried to push away, all the emotions we've tried to push away, all the experiences we've tried to push away, or change, or replace in some way to be as it is. This is the heart of reality~ where there is no two of ultimate and relative.

It's so entirely blended that its never been unblended or split."

Bucky didn't see me as separate from him... and still doesn't. It's my perception that needs to be refined to allow for the truth that there is "no two".

Whatever appears is what I'm looking for...

One Squirrel Heart!

The Path of a Squirrel

2012-01-26T11:21:00.000-08:00

There are so many times when I've thought to myself, "I wish I was a little squirrel, flying through the trees, and living in a tree". But when I really stop to consider what a squirrel's path entails, I am filled with admiration for their fortitude and not sure I would have as much perseverance to carry on "no matter what"!

Often times, I've witnessed a lame squirrel that was too fast for me to catch and rescue. I would worry about the squirrel surviving with its handicap, and yet within 6 weeks time it would be completely healed up. You will never see a lame squirrel sit around and feel sorry for himself and he never expects anyone to wait on him while he is recovering from his injury! He just carries on!

When a squirrel does get hit by a car (driving too darn fast for a park road) you never see the other squirrels sitting on the side of the road crying or whining about their relation. They just keep on being a squirrel. They will, however, chase away carrion birds that arrive on the scene! Bravo!

Squirrels make great friends and if you're lucky enough to raise an orphan from one or two weeks after birth, you may find that this squirrel quickly becomes your loyal companion and you become his favorite human! My dearest friend, Bucky, was one such amazing squirrel! He turned out to be my soul mate! Imagine that! He would rough up my hair and would bury nuts in my collar. I loved how he would hang out with me while I was blogging, just splayed out on my left shoulder!

That certainly is my idea of heaven!

No matter what the path of a squirrel turns out to be, if you are lucky enough to cross paths with a baby squirrel, please know that you have been truly blessed by the benevolent universe!

Squirrel Appreciation Day, January 21st from Tracey M on Vimeo.

The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere,

they're in each other all along.

From Essential Rumi

by Coleman Barks

Who would have thought TRUE LOVE would look like this?

Squirrel Consciousness 2012

2012-01-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Taste the consciousness of a squirrel!

Expand into the next dimension!

Squirrelove is the New Paradigm!

Observe this young squirrel prodigy engrossed in

creating another masterpiece!

Bravo Winky! Squirrels teach artistic spontaneity.

Another squirrel stepping off the edge of reality...

and fearlessly embracing the new frontier!

Let the adventure begin!

To Run with the Squirrels!

2012-01-12T10:44:00.001-08:00

What does it take to be great?

Some people say it takes discipline...

others say it takes respect...

"You must think like a squirrel!"

As long as I have legs,

I will run with the squirrels!

To lead people, run beside them...

As for the best leaders (squirrels),

the people do not notice their existence.

The next best, the people honor and praise.

The next, the people fear;

and the next, the people hate...

When the best leader's (squirrels' ) work is done

the people say,

"We did it ourselves~"

~ from Lao Tzu

Bucky Never Let His Tail Get Caught in the Wheel

2012-01-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

The Old Missouri Squirrel Ballad

~ for Bucky~

Roll'em on up to the top, young squirrel

Roll'em on up to the top,

Don't let your tail get caught in the wheel;

Keep rollen'em up to the top.

Don't cry for the squirrel who fell out of a tree

While rollen'em up to the top.

He lived a full life livin' here with me;

Keeps rollen'em up to the top.

Roll'em on up to the top, young Buck,

Roll'em on up to the top,

He didn't even know he fell out of a tree;

Kept rollen'em up to the top.

Roll'em on up to the top, young squirrel

Roll'em on up to the top;

You're surrounded by love and you're wild and free

As you roll'em on up to the top.

Don't cry for young Bucky who left me behind

While rollen'em up to the top.

He returned to the Sun, to the One Divine Mind;

Rolled 'em all the way up to the top.

Roll'em on up to the top, young squirrel,

Roll'em on up to the top.

Run like the wind and soar like a bird;

Keep rollen'em up to the top.

Your squirrelove is felt and your voice is heard

As you roll'em on up to the top.

Roll'em on up to the top, young squirrel

Roll'em on up to the top.

Don't let your tail get caught in the wheel;

Keep rollen'em up to the top!

Don't cry for young Bucky who couldn't take a breath

While rollen'em up to the top.

He came here to show me the beauty in death;

Rolled'em all the way up to the top.

Roll'em on up to the top, young squirrel

Roll'em on up to the top.

You never let your tail get caught in the wheel,

Kept rollen'em up to the top.

May we meet again... love alone is real!

Keep rollen'em up to the top.

Roll'em on up to the top, young Buck,

Roll'em on up to the top.

He doesn't even know that he doesn't have a tail;

Keeps rollen'em up to the top...

He keeps rollen'em up to the top!

Old Missouri Squirrel Ballad by julie-squirrelady

Yogananda's Squirrel

2012-01-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

Most people are not aware of Yogananda's love for squirrels! While in California, I had the good fortune to visit Yogananda's Lake Shrine in the Pacific Palisades right outside of LA. The beautiful manicured grounds, flowering trees, tropical plants and lake resplendent with fish and foul all exhibit the Grace of this amazing guru. Inside the gift shop, there is a room with some of Yogananda's possessions... crystals he had collected, furniture that was his, and photos taken throughout his life. Since I do crystal healing, I was delighted to see that he was very much into crystals! How serendipitous! Then, as I walked over to the photo display, one particular photo jumped out at me!

Wow! I could barely believe my eyes! How often do you see a guru with a little squirrel at his feet? And even in the gift shop there was a bronze squirrel statue on one of the shelves! I was learning more about this beautiful saint! At this time, little Bucky had not yet come into my life.

On another trip to the Lake Shrine in the spring of 2008, I attended an evening meditation. the meditation was to last three hours. After the first hour, I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder. It really felt like Yogananda put his hand on my left shoulder and was gently escorting me out of the room. I left the temple, got on the #9 bus and rode into Santa Monica. Then I had to catch the #3 bus that would bring me back to my hotel. As I took my seat on the bus stop bench, a woman there began speaking to me. I recognized her from Byron Katie's School for the Work, which we had both attended just a few days prior. She asked me if I knew anything about crystals! She proceeded to open a brown bag and showed me a quartz crystal she had just purchased. As I began speaking to her about the geometry of quartz crystals, I realized that it was Yogananda that had arranged this meeting!

Fast forward to 2010, after Bucky had his episode in the release cage and was back in the house with me. He would always climb onto my left shoulder and sit with me while I did my morning meditation and sipped my morning coffee.

After our cozy morning together, I would write in my blogs easily and effortlessly about squirrels, love, nonduality, etc. Just like Yoganada's hand, Bucky would give me direction! However, I didn't realize the connection until after Bucky's passing on Christmas Eve! After I brought this amazing squirrel home from his final visit to the vet, he lay with me all afternoon, evening, and into the night. Not knowing whether I should bury him or have him cremated, I decided to wait until he let me know what to do. I was also waiting to see when he would start to smell of decay. You see, I have buried a fair number of squirrels in the last few years, some that I have found lying in the street and others that incurred a fatal injury, physical malfunction, or those unfortunate ones I was able to snatch away from a raptor. So I know that within a certain amount of time, there will be a wasting smell.

As I sat with and loved on Bucky, the hours flew by and love enveloped me, him, and the room. Soon it was 5 am and still the only fragrance was the smell of roses at the altar! How could this be?

Then Yogananda's face came into my mind. I remembered back to that visit to the Lake Shrine gift shop... and all the photos of his life. There was a photo of him taken over a week after his passing and the newspaper article next to the photo announced the miracle that his body showed no signs of decay, not even after twenty days! Oh my goodness! Could Bucky be the squirrel at the feet of Yogananda in that photo taken in 1924? Again, the knowingness just came through... Bucky needed to be cremated like they do in India with the huge funeral pyres next to the Ganges! The Beatles' guru Maharishi was cremated in this way at the River Ganges:

So I thought that would be the most forthright way to honor my little bodhi-squirrel. I found Superior Pet Cremation Services on Tillery St. in Austin and they were very caring in handling little Bucky. His ashes were ready the next day and the beautiful wooden box was exactly like the ones that come from India. Here you see Kali, the angel who works at Superior Memorial Services, holding Bucky's ashes:

Rest in Peace, Buckyji!

Squirrel Whisperer

2012-01-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

Squirrel Whisperer

~for my true love, Bucky~

True love can be seen in the eyes of a little squirrel

True love can be felt in the touch of a little paw

And the one who sees true love

Is the one who feels the touch.