Changes or Winnie-the-Pooh and Other Wise-full Characters

Yes, it’s the start of new year. So, while we can all still catch a whiff of that fresh, possibilities-abound, New Year’s aroma, let’s take on a complex (deep and important) subject: ‘Change’
What’s your initial gut reaction when you hear (or read) that word? Anxiety, fear, nausea? OR, do you begin to anticipate something new, get excited, and maybe feel hopeful?

Oh, how I wish I could jump up and boldly cheer: "Change is 

Yvette Wyatt

my jam! Jam-a-la-ram!” instead of offering a tentatively tilted: “Change is for certain, ok… (inhale, exhale) pull back the curtain.”. Though I’ve actively spent the last three decades pursuing a parallel course to that bold, ‘jam-a-la ram’ attitude towards change, I still experience a ‘hitch in my giddy-up’ when a change opportunity reveals itself. So, with this continuing reaction gap between ‘fearful’ to ‘hopeful’, I’ve been focusing on an intermediate step: transforming feelings of anxiety about change into expectations of hope for the possibilities within change.

Today it is my intention to share a few sources of wisdom I have come to appreciate in my attempts to span this gap. I’m excited to share readings that I find delightful and which speak to change in a simple, clear way. I hope they might also offer you a moment of inspiration to see ‘change’ from a more anticipatory viewpoint.

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The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (HarperCollins Publishers 2019)
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This is a beautifully illustrated book that speaks of love, kindness and courage through acts of friendship. *There are no page numbers. I have simply counted the pages from the start and notated in front of the quote.
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p. 15 ... “Most of the old moles I know wish they had listened less to their fears and more to their dreams,” Mole tells Boy.
p. 17 ... “Imagine how we would be if we were less afraid,” ponders Boy.
pp. 20-23 ... Boy and Mole come upon Fox in a snare. It is their first meeting.
“I’m not afraid,” said the mole.
“If I wasn’t caught in this snare I’d kill you,” said the fox.
“If you stay in that snare, you will die,” said the mole.
So the mole chewed through the wire with his tiny teeth.
Then Mole shares his reflection with Boy, “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.”
p. 93 ... in the midst of a storm, Horse encourages them all, “… when the big things feel out of control…focus on what you love right under your nose.”

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Big Panda and Tiny Dragon by James Norbury (Mandala Publishing 2021)
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Spring p.14 Big Panda and Tiny Dragon are together under the cherry tree. Tiny Dragon is busily writing (probably a draft for an e-blog). Big Panda is contemplating the cherry blossoms.

“I’m too busy to see the flowers right now,” said Tiny Dragon.
“All the more reason to look at them,” said Big Panda. “And they might not be here tomorrow.”
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Summer p. 62 Big Panda and Tiny Dragon are sitting at the pond’s edge. Big Panda sits facing the center. Tiny Dragon sits facing Big Panda, his chin supported in the left hand of his bent front leg. (I don’t know if dragons have arms.)
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“I’m worried,” said Tiny Dragon. “I don’t know what to do next.”
“For just a moment,” Said Big Panda, “stop, breathe and listen to the wind in the bamboo.”
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Autumn p. 97 Tiny Dragon and Big Panda are sharing tea under the cherry tree.
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“The leaves are dying,” said Tiny Dragon.
“Don’t be sad,” said Big Panda. “Autumn is nature’s way of showing us how beautiful letting go can be.”
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Winter p.136 Big Panda and Tiny Dragon, under the bare the cherry tree, during a beautiful snow fall.

“I forgot to make my New Year’s resolution,” sighed Tiny Dragon.
“Don’t worry, little one,“ said Big Panda. “If there is something you want to change, you can start right now.”
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Spring p.150 & 151 Big Panda sits below a bamboo from which hangs a quivering chrysalis. Tiny Dragon is perched on a rock nearby, staring. (He looks mesmerized.) The caption reads: ‘Butterflies struggle most just before they emerge.’
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“Do you believe in reincarnation?” asked Tiny Dragon.
Big Panda yawned. “I believe that every minute of every day, we can let go and start again.”

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The TAO of POOH and the TE of PIGLET  The Principles of Taoism demonstrated by Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet, inspired by the original works by A.A. Milne and E.H. Shepard (Methuen & Co. Ltd 1994) pp. 24-26
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Intelligence can get in the way of wisdom and the power of solving a logical problem that requires a changed sense of logic. The excerpt that follows shows how a Bear of Little Brain manages simple wisdom to effect a desired change.
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“The fact is,” said Rabbit, “we’ve missed our way somehow.”

They were having a rest in a small sand-pit on the top of the Forest. Pooh was getting rather tired of that sand-pit, and suspected it of following them about, because whichever direction they started in, they always ended up at it, and each time, as it came through the mist at them, Rabbit said triumphantly, “Now I know where we are!” and Pooh said sadly, “So do I,” and Piglet said nothing. He had tried to think of something to say, but the only thing he could think of was, “Help! Help!” and it seemed silly to say that, when he had Pooh and Rabbit with him.

“Well,” said Rabbit, after a long silence in which nobody thanked him for the nice walk they were having, “we’d better get on, I suppose. Which way shall we try?”

“How would it be,” said Pooh slowly, “if, as soon as we’re out of sight of this Pit, we try to find it again?”

“What’s the good of that?” said Rabbit.

“Well,” said Pooh, “we keep looking for Home and not finding it, so I thought that if we looked for this Pit, we’d be sure not to find it, which would be a Good Thing, because then we might find something that we weren’t looking for, which might be just what we were looking for, really.”

“I don’t see the sense in that,” said Rabbit…. “If I walked away from this Pit, and then walked back to it, of course I should find it.”

“Well, I thought perhaps you wouldn’t,” said Pooh. “I just thought.”
“Try,” said Piglet suddenly. “we’ll wait here for you.”

Rabbit gave a laugh to show how silly Piglet was, and walked into the mist. After he had gone a hundred yards, he turned and walked back again … and after Pooh and Piglet had waited twenty minutes for him, Pooh got up.

“I just thought,” said Pooh, “Now then, Piglet, let’s go home.”

“But. Pooh,” cried Piglet, all excited, “do you know the way?”
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“No,” said Pooh. “But there are twelve pots of honey in my cupboard, and they’ve been calling to me for hours. I couldn’t hear them properly before, because Rabbit would talk, but if nobody says anything except those twelve pots, I think, Piglet, I shall know where they’re calling from. Come on.”

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While I do love books that speak to the hearts and understanding of children and express the truth of ideas simply, I am very excited to share the mature wisdom and encouragement to be found in the link below:

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations from the Center for Action and Contemplation 
Week One Summary: December 31, 2023 – January 5, 2024

Radical Resilience
Monday
We humans as a species are not attracted to change. We like things the way we like things. And yet the first words out of Jesus’ mouth tell us that he’s come to give us a philosophy of change: “Repent,”--change your mind— “for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2).
—Richard Rohr

Peace and every good, Yvette