reminding self that feelings are often Thoughts.  which are mental constructs.  and i'll add a word.  Indulgences…according to Don Juan .

so…i indulged myself with thoughts and feelings.  i went to the Farmer's Market in town and talked to too many people.  always a mistake to go into town on Saturdays.  you run into Everyone.  and have to explain yourself over and over.

Then, i went to the Old Folks Home to see what was happening with Alz. Betty.  She was in the shower, and i just missed it, but it was a good shower.  a happy shower.  some are not.  sometimes she kicks and bites.  but she was all moist and good smelling from all the lotion and had a new haircut.  and she was thirsty so i was able to get her two glasses of water and she blew bubbles through the straw for the second.  it make her laugh.  and a new guy was there.  he arrived during the night and was in one of the really interesting chair/pens made from pvc pipes.  they are like, hmm, they are like a playpen but you can scoot around in them.  they keep you from falling down.  he was out in the middle area near the nursing station where there is this big table, where Betty is often parked.  he was ….he was dressed still, as he had come, i'm sure.  had his hat on.  a hospital band on his wrist…must have come into the hospital in town and then shifted over to the Place.  he was anxious.  mostly spoke spanish but then as it is here, interspersed with english…and i got his drift.  he was worried about "those Sons of Bitches".  the nurses aid kept reassuring him that she had thrown them out.  Thrown out those sons of bitches and it was ok.  he wasn't at all sure. he had the look that the buck goats get.  when they don't know exactly what they should do.  when they only know a few things to do in any situation and are unsure.  don't know who is ok and who is not. Don't know how to figure out ok.

and then, there was another guy who was patiently waiting for someone to take him out for a smoke.  so i asked and they said i could.  so we went.  one of his legs is gone.  and he has no sense of bowl or bladder.  that's why he was there.  he wasn't shy.  and he feels ok about it.  knows he needs care and cannot care for himself.  no fear in his eyes.  it was nice.  the cigarette time.  we shook hands.

and i finally got home.

001f
accidentally flooded.

002f
Apricot tree about half in bloom and SOOOOOO many bees and a hawkmoth and a black swallowtail

003f
and i don't know how many wheelbarrow's full of compost to this strip outside the yard.  anyway, hauled them and raked and watered and tomorrow i'll dig it in.  will put onions here this time.  Usually tomatoes but because of the Goats, this time …Not.

and speaking of Goats

005g
Gideon.  that left front leg.  he can barely put weight on it.  what to think?  if he can't stand, he can't live.  When i fed them peanuts, i gave him as many as i could, as many as he could "compete" at the fence for.  I am just too full of feelings for Gideon.

007g
his son.  Sunny Ray.  and a good image for how goats feel about peanuts.

008g
and beloved gentle TenZen waiting his turn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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40 responses to “Day 16. i spent the day having Feelings.”

  1. grace Forrest Avatar

    it was. it was full. there wasn’t a moment “wasted” doing nothing. and when it’s done now, as i type this, there was also So Much that didn’t get done. and that’s how it is. i need DOUbLE days. Simultaneous Days. SO
    MUCH for one single life. oh…………..

    Like

  2. roz Avatar
    roz

    feelings are mental constructs, indulgences even according to Don Juan ? really ?
    hmmmmm. that statement had me on guard from the outset. but those goats eyes are amazing.
    i feel for gideon too. i feel a lot.

    Like

  3. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    Such a fine description of the old folks home—like a scene from a film, only real. You’re certainly not wasting any of life’s time–too busy living it. When I get busy, and I’m not yet, I often feel I need an extra arm, sometimes two, and more day in the day. How that glorious apricot tree sets up against the gray-blue sky and golden grasses just takes my breath away. I’m a bit worried for Gideon, and don’t think you have too much feeling for him, though I’m not contradicting. He may be hurt. The other goats move me too, and I’m only looking at pictures. I’ve just written a post about saints–sort of–well, partially about that, and your gentle TenZen just might be the reincarnation of one. Goodnight, and may there be stars.

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  4. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. yes they are. both. mental constructs and indulgences.
    yes. it’s true to me.
    WHAT helps gideon? WHAT is useful to him?
    my
    feelings?
    or…whatever small things i can do that help him?
    their eyes. their Selves. are
    what?
    overwhelmingly intense.
    after the buck goats i went in with the does and took the brush and brushed them. they are itchy with their winter undercoats and everyone waited for their turn and wanted many turns and it was something i could do for them that made them feel
    good

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  5. grace Forrest Avatar

    Michelle..they could all be Saints. they are so
    open
    so
    giving
    so just nothing but everything.
    i am having so many Feelings about this thing with Goats

    Like

  6. roz Avatar
    roz

    to feel for him .. and have empathy, comes before the doing i think.
    to be still enough to know what is best for him and how he is feeling.to read him and his feelings.what does he want and need from you. what to do comes next.
    i think i would defend feelings to the end.
    interesting to find out i am so passionate about that. possibly because it has taken a long while for me to allow the indulgence of having my own feelings.and they are worthy of being.
    hmmmm.

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  7. grace Forrest Avatar

    the Carlos Casteneda books…the Teachings of Don Juan etc.
    yes. what about my Feelings are about ME?, rather than
    about Gideon?
    He IS
    an extraordinary Excellent beyond Compare
    Goat.

    Like

  8. grace Forrest Avatar

    “defend feelings to the end”
    i get tears
    about that.
    what does he want. need from me.

    Like

  9. wholly Jeanne Avatar

    How delighted I am that Alz. Betty had a good shower day. Having been down that road with many elders (the women on one side of my forest tend to go childless), I know firsthand how distressing a not-so-good shower day can be for all concerned. I had one great aunt who was “great” in terms of lineage only. On her best days, Aunt Lucy was a grumpy, disagreeable old goat, regardless of how many peanuts (her peanuts were more like Prozac) I fed her. Love everything about this post.

    Like

  10. roz Avatar
    roz

    absolutely, what are your feelings about gideon that are actually about you !
    and about me as i look at that picture.
    that animal in pain [ i know that from your words] with his eyes not like the others at all. i see and feel needing help. to be able to ask for that. to be able to receive that. to be alone and in pain. we are all alone really. helpless at times.vunerable. alone and vunerable,i do not cherish the notion of being there. ever.
    kinda like your man at the hospital.
    tho this goat has you and with a name like Gideon , he MUST be an Excellent beyond Compare Goat.
    and i do not know of the Teachings of Don Juan book ….but i will look for it.

    Like

  11. grace Forrest Avatar

    W Jeanne…it’s really something to behold for me. Alz B
    for a short time was training to be an ombudsman for this same place. She hated it. and here she is. sometimes ok and sometimes biting and kicking the ever so patient workers there. it’s a real lesson to me. we DON”T KNOW.
    how it all will go. there is the
    Unforseen.
    and We DO NOT KNOW.
    we DO NOT KNOW.
    i could say that over and over ten billion times and still keep saying it.
    so…what to think in the meantime?????????????????????????

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar

    he does have me. and i do have him.
    and he IS
    a most Excellent Goat. beyond Compare.
    and so…what do we do?
    this is the Learning. it can come from many things.
    for me, now, it is the Goats.

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  13. roz Avatar
    roz

    yep and for me now it may, in part, be you and the goats too.

    Like

  14. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. thank you for caring.

    Like

  15. roz Avatar
    roz

    okay , after i was here having soooo much to say , maybe tooo much to say even , i found this quote posted my zendotstudio ..
    “Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
    -Khalil Gibran
    and this i really really like.
    the image of a WELL OF FEELING.
    a depth to this feeling.
    and what to do with? be alive with it i think.

    Like

  16. Chris Linton Avatar

    I love how your love for your goats always comes through.

    Like

  17. saskia Avatar

    I think/feel I don’t Really Know A Lot; I am and that sums me up, until I’m not and that’ll be okay too.
    every milli-second I am, and remembering to ‘just be’ every milli-second should be enough, but it never is, for me at least, not yet, I have a lot of unburdening to do; getting rid of my ego, or rather looking at it and letting it be, maybe rest. Difficult to put into words.
    Glorious blooms&bees&sunshine and a glorious day with those people you met, their just being; maybe it’s like a baby: wanting food and warmth and arms wrapped around you….
    btw have read Don Juan many years ago and was mightily impressed, although disappointed when I learnt Castaneda had invented him, Don Juan I mean; anyway the teachings are what’s relevant
    I wish you well Grace

    Like

  18. follows thread (aka patricia) Avatar

    thoughts and feelings. the on-going backdrop for self. to be taken seriously, or not, i suppose. i’m much more of just a simple “doer” of sorts. i just do. sometimes i’m in my head–well truthfully i’m often in my head. but lately i’m noticing the ability to marvel at the head stuff–as in “well, isn’t this interesting!” but when “projections” start raising their heads, that’s when i have to draw the line. i can be ok with thoughts and feelings in the moment, sort of, but notice i’m not at all comfortable with the path “projections” can lead me down.
    for Gideon-could he need hoof trimming?–never something i looked forward to doing, but always glad when it was completed. and those hooves grow so fast. we were lucky in wv–the dampness presented their own problems but kept the hooves easy to trim. when it was dry, though, as i think it might be in nm now, had to resort to all sorts of carpentry tools as well– and even a sheetrock edge trimmer.

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  19. Joan Avatar

    I understand your ache for Gideon. I know you will do your best for him. Love has many facets–bringing both joy and sorrow and many shades in between. I struggle to accept that we all have our own suffering, whether we are goats or humans. So lovely and kind of you to visit the nursing home. I think you are a bodhisattva, which I suppose does not exempt you from suffering.

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  20. jude Avatar

    this all wells up here, as i have so much “feeling” about how it might happen lately. after a hard fall which has changed my mobility in small ways. mom. gideon. all of us as roz says. all of us. alone it it. but yet not. life is so painfully glorious.

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  21. follows thread (aka patricia) Avatar

    Grace, please remove my comment if you can. i just re-read it. and my own response was WHAT?

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  22. Mo Crow Avatar

    (((Gideon))) & (((Grace))) do you have a vet who can help with some pain relief?

    Like

  23. grace Forrest Avatar

    Mo…we’re not at that moment yet. but there is always
    a vet as last resort. Vets are not necessarily enormously knowledgable about goats. I’m working on it. Do not
    worry yet.

    Like

  24. grace Forrest Avatar

    it is Everything, it seems, this human life. just all
    of it.
    and sometimes things are just so slow…like your ankle.
    they get better, but in the meantime, we live with what
    it is.

    Like

  25. grace Forrest Avatar

    Joan…that is such a nice thing to say, but i am far
    and far and far from bodhisattva~ness. but i think it is something that we all, each in our own ways move toward.
    THANK YOU for coming here…..

    Like

  26. grace Forrest Avatar

    it was your response.
    what to What.
    and i read…sheetrock edge trimmer and
    CRINGE!!!!! oh, Jeez.
    OH. NO…back to the Mr. Bill thing OH NOOOoooo
    I am NO GOOD at stuff like this. But my reality is
    that i am going to need to learn.
    period.
    and projections…so interesting, so common, so
    easily “projected”…..i think just trying to notice is
    a huge piece of work in itself.
    xoxoxo

    Like

  27. grace Forrest Avatar

    yes. i was bummed too, but then there is still controversy about what is the truth. so who knows.
    Maybe he was like Ghost Bird? or the King? they are
    sortof Real…

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  28. grace Forrest Avatar

    it’s gets More and More as time goes by. and that
    feeds my determination.

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  29. grace Forrest Avatar

    those are really beauty Full words. but it’s tricky.
    and i am unable to really explore it on this blog..or
    don’t want to explore it on this blog.
    so…i’m thinking. maybe i shouldn’t “go there” at all
    to some places if i am not prepared to go on with it
    as long as necessary. i don’t know.
    anyway…
    xoxo

    Like

  30. follows thread (aka patricia) Avatar

    the sheetrock edge trimmer–well that does work if hoof trimmers are dull–which i don’t think yours will be! at this point! and you are going to find that dreading this task is probably a LOT harder than doing it. love xoxoxox

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  31. mimmin dove Avatar
    mimmin dove

    I love how you call Gideon an ‘extraordinary Excellent beyond Compare
    Goat.’ I could just hug him. Can you hug a goat? and Castaneda… I am back in 1983 and a nearly boyfriend gave me a whole set of his books: I have them still, and I am with Roz on ‘feelings’ but as my son, the semi scientist might add, it is all just chemicals in the brain, which makes me think of dust and constellations and freaks me out just a little.

    Like

  32. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    sheet rock trimmers on goat hooves…talk about “things our mothers never taught us.” And PS, Following Thread, what you said made sense to me.

    Like

  33. grace Forrest Avatar

    YES!!!!!!!!!!!
    good reminder.
    I KNOW that, but never can put it to use. it’s always
    the first time.
    and YES YES YES. the dread is so much BIGGER than the
    doing.
    oh thank you, and for the love and the xo’s

    Like

  34. roz Avatar
    roz

    yep, and hear ya.
    done.
    totally.
    xoxox

    Like

  35. grace Forrest Avatar

    mimmin…yes. most goats think hugging is very good. some want a LOT of it. little Mercy wants hugging while
    pressing into with whole self. Gideon is so much into
    hugging. but sometimes he gets it mixed up with other
    more manly feelings…depends on if any of the does are
    in heat.
    and oh, jeez. there ARE
    feelings that are Real and True
    like love, grief, joy, Pleasure, …hmmm. as i write
    this, i’m suddenly thinking …the ones that rise up
    out of us in RESPONSE.
    maybe that’s some of what i mean??? what i’m trying to
    understand????
    it’s all the thoughts and feelings that rise up out of
    REACTION to something perceived ….oh…it’s such a
    big thing. i shouldn’t even talk about it.
    Sigh.
    but dust and constellations…like the night sky….
    unexplainable, but real and the RESPONSE to it so REAL
    xoxoxo
    i am SO SO glad you are in What If!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Like

  36. grace Forrest Avatar

    i know. i cringed, literally. but it did me SO MUCH GOOD
    to read that. i have to put my own FEELINGS aside and
    be responsible to Gideon. to all of them. if they were
    wild and free, their hooves would be naturally trimmed by
    sharp rocks and gravel. but i keep them kind of imprisoned. so…i need to … oh, be Right to them in our circumstance.

    Like

  37. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    after reading all these posts and the 17, it occurs to me you might think about protecting yourself a bit, like when you get too full of feelings about the old folks, and the goats, and just everything. All light workers and healers have protective rituals they do before ‘entering’ or ‘going into the fray” of any situation–I mean you know what most gets you–what the triggers are. it might sound airy faerie but it’s practical too, I think…you know–like draw a circle, stand in it and honor the four directions, call on them to protect you, use a sage stick to cleanse before and after. It’s worked for me in times of great stress. maybe it would work for you, and anyone else out there who shares difficult times–that’s probably every one 🙂

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  38. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    “In Buddhism, a bodhisattva (Sanskrit: बोधिसत्त्व bodhisattva; Pali: बोधिसत्त bodhisatta) is either an enlightened (bodhi) existence (sattva) or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, “heroic-minded one (satva) for enlightenment (bodhi).” The Pali term has sometimes been translated as “wisdom-being,”[1] although in modern publications, and especially in tantric works, this is more commonly reserved for the term jñānasattva (“awareness-being”; Tib. ཡེ་ཤེས་སེམས་དཔའ་་, Wyl. ye shes sems dpa’). Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings”

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  39. grace Forrest Avatar

    Michelle..thank you. i’m not sure what to think.
    I love you and thank you for this thought.

    Like

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