in her comment Dana said the above,  but to quote exactly,  "the uncompromising nature of their being"…animals.   But when i read it,  i read it just of …being.   it fit things so well.  and i realize that things here for a while have been hard.  but…it's a journal,  and it's a report of the days as they come and go.  i can't fix it.  what is,  is.  There ARE people,  i was thinking today,  who seem to have lives that are perfect.  or,  very smooth.   no difficult decisions,  no difficult events.  My children's father for one.   the most difficult thing he had to deal with recently is putting together an entire newly acquired condominium full of Ikea furniture.  he told the kids he was exhausted.  room after room after room.   

I am thinking so many things.   about Choice.   how we say Yes to things,  not knowing exactly what that Yes might mean.  and then …. we have more Choices even as we Go, as things Unfold, because we are truly NOT at the Center of anything at all.   it's a moving dynamic of many many players.  It's sort of My story,  but it's also The story,  me, just a player.

 

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so.  yet one more grave.   the Child Buddha and the Goat.  moving from the Raft.  Tomorrow, when i can be here all day, i'll tie new rags to the sticks.  

and this morning,  after sleeping what felt like 5 minutes at a time all night,   i woke to start a fire.  I'm out of New York Times.   just Albuquerque Journal now.  but here.  This One.  and i looked long at the pictures and read.   About a clinic in Cuidad Juarez,  just over the New Mexico border.  I was there, some years ago.  it was rough then.  since then…well,  i assume people read the news.   this clinic is run by New Mexico's Sisters of Charity.  it began in 2003 as a health clinic but over time evolved to specialize in providing physical therapy to poor families with special needs children.  

 

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What struck me most and deeply is that many of the parents who have lost their child to death,  continue to come.  they work in community with the nuns,  with the parents of children being treated.  they continue.  They Just Go.   Physical therapy,  sensory exercises and Reiki.  they continue.    There, in a world of the Uncompromising nature of Being,  they continue.  they Just Go.  so.

what to think?  i will re-play and re-play and re-play yesterday for as long as it takes.  Until something is quiet with in me.

and to tell the truth….i woke in the night, knowing for sure it was Lucky Star and her little one, Celia that had gotten out to roam the Buck's fence.  and in that instant, i also knew that the only reality was that it was Nogal who had bred Karma.   i had put off taking him away from his mother.  i had put it off because i didn't want to cause him to cry.  i had put it off because he was such a lap baby and so sweet and i didn't want to relegate him to the Big Boy Buck Pen.  and because of MY feelings, this happened.   it's mine.  this belongs to me.  and as straight talking Alberto said….."people like you shouldn't have animals.  get a toy".

 

 

 

 

 

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51 responses to “” the uncompromising nature of ….Being””

  1. jude Avatar

    well. i have so many of these moments. what can we do?

    Like

  2. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    My first impulse was to say, no, don’t take this on yourself but you have and so it is done…who can know what is the right thing to do where animals are concerned, especially when we love them as family or they are entrusted to us for safekeeping. Alberto may be a wise man but he has not seen your devotion to the goats. We have to trust our instincts. Yours regarding Nogal were based on caring and love – you had no way of knowing what would come. I know you are sitting with this tonight and maybe for a while longer. Tomorrow though is a new day and the gift of the day is to take a deep breath, and continue and you will.

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  3. grace Avatar

    i don’t know. Maybe just let ourselves fully FEEL it all.
    not turn away.
    i don’t know.

    Like

  4. grace Avatar

    he saw. today. when we brought the irrigation cement
    thingys. he saw. he looked. he is an interesting man.
    i did, tho, Marti. i knew that these Goats can breed so
    young. i knew it. and i still chose to see it how it was
    for ME. i will never do that again. but this is at the
    expense now of the little dead doeling. and maybe of Karma’s
    future wellbeing. so…it lies with me. and i need to
    look long and hard at that.
    and Alberto DID see. he asked about that 1/2 ton bale of
    alfalfa. he asked practical questions. he said…come
    to his house in May when they have the first cut. This is
    the biggest thing he can offer. Feed. Feed for animals.
    it’s big. so he looked. he saw. and he offered.

    Like

  5. Deb G Avatar

    We do the best we can with what we know. And next time we know more and do better…

    Like

  6. grace Avatar

    yes. i have said this for years. yes.
    but then, there comes a time when we might do better
    because of so many times of serving our own needs.
    maybe that’s it. What
    needs
    do i
    serve.
    maybe that becomes the FIRST QUESTION……?

    Like

  7. jude Avatar

    a choosing. it can’t be everything. all of them.

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  8. Deb G Avatar

    It’s a good question.

    Like

  9. grace Avatar

    no. it can’t. no one could.
    but we choose something. we do choose. we say…with
    What I Have, i choose This. and we GIVE. with all we have, we Give.
    can i go to work in that clinic? i suppose, but what of the Goats?, what of my Daughter?
    so…i choose Goats. i choose my own daughter. is that the right choice?, i don’t know. but it’s what is IN MY FACE.
    to UN CHOOSE them would be like blood flowing. so….

    Like

  10. Sandi Avatar
    Sandi

    Grace, I am agreeing with your statement, “Maybe just let ourselves fully FEEL it all.
    not turn away.” Such wise thought, yet so so hard to do. I do think it’s right tho. Hugs to you! ❤

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  11. grace Avatar

    i feel bad…all this Hard Stuff here. i have the URGE
    to make it lighter. but it is what it is and….i think it has some value…to not turn away. so say…OK. and LOOK.
    it truly is All of It. Why is it so hard to just accept that?…as in Patricia’s comment? looking at the holes in the bucket and watching it all go through…….

    Like

  12. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    it’s big work when we start tracking the choices we’ve made. and sometimes, all too often, there are so many choices at once that we are on constant response. it is a choice as well, not to feel. . .like your children’s father. . .and that works. until it doesn’t.
    you always choose with your heart Grace. love, and solace, for that.

    Like

  13. grace Avatar

    we look. we look back. we wonder.
    yes. i could still be married to him. and all that Ikea.
    but what would that choice have entailed for me?, meant
    to me? a world class golf course instead of Goats

    Like

  14. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    hey grace, after a day like yesterday maybe a little mini golf? my son and I used to stop and play after a tedious errand or appointment. set aside responsibility for an hour. meet in dreamtime?

    Like

  15. jude Avatar

    there is no right choice. that is the thing about choice. it belongs to you. nothing else to say about it. and the you see what happens.

    Like

  16. Sandi Avatar
    Sandi

    We all know how much you love your goats- There is no way to tell if you had moved Nogal, something else might have occurred. When making choices from the heart, you are acting from a place of love. Bad things sometimes happen, but it doesn’t make you any less of a good loving woman with the best of intentions. It’s OK to feel bad. Urges sometimes are worth considering. It might be hard to accept because it’s too much. Sending you peace and love!

    Like

  17. Judith of N. CA Avatar
    Judith of N. CA

    Dear, dear Grace…your heart will heal and it will be based on the fact that you already have realized a choice was made and there were results..a hard but valuable lesson. Something special happened today when Alberto came, observed and then offered hay…he saw heartfelt caring, he saw healthy goats, he saw a goat woman trying her very best…he saw that you deserved the goats not “a toy” (as he put it yesterday). I think this was a very big deal..a verification of sorts. Hoping that this will help sooth the ragged edges of the past days.

    Like

  18. tracy Avatar
    tracy

    You know, hon, hindsight is golden. If you’d known what was going to happen you would have done it differently. But you didn’t know. There will be more babies and it will be very good. Pema Chodren says to stop telling yourself the story, breathe in the present and feel it all. Good or bad, it’s what’s real.
    I’m glad your neighbor has offered some help. Maybe he respects you now that he sees what you’re doing there. I sure do. What you’re doing is hard.
    Hugs, the little goats have their own karma too. Humans can’t control everything.

    Like

  19. beth Avatar

    {{{ Grace }}}

    Like

  20. Dana Avatar

    Lord Krishna said that Arjuna had a right to his labor, but not to the fruits of his labor. You made your choice about Nogal in the kindness of your heart and the choice grew into something beyond you. I think you are doing right to feel the emotions completely, including the guilt, but don’t forget the labor of love you are offering your daughter and the goats. You can’t always control the consequences of your decisions, but you can continue to work for what matters in your life. I join all the commenters above in admiration for the care you offer everything in your path.

    Like

  21. Mo Crow Avatar

    ((( Grace & Karma)))

    Like

  22. Michelle in NYC Avatar

    knowing is a moving dynamic, and LIFE once ‘chosen’ (if we want to accept a bit of Buddha teaching for a minute), well….we’re stuck in the classroom again (for a reason maybe, like we got karma to clear, or we’re clear like the Dalai LLama and return to teach). I mean, it’s bound to deliver us some not so pleasant lessons, AND ends in death, so if we could have seen before we were born, well….what would we have chosen?
    “COULDA-WOULDA-SHOULDA” is a judgement (maybe a song title). The other thing we’re stuck with is feeling. Feeling leads to wisdom, and wisdom teaches us there is no more important task than practicing compassion, and the first recipient has to be ourselves or it’s false and we can’t help anyone.
    I had some old karma come back for closure recently (that woman on my last two blog posts who just died of a heart attack at fifty without any warning was pivotal to a very PAINFUL lesson in the past). I mean, she was a fine person with her own karma, and we got entangled. But my ‘lesson’ set me on the road to a much better place. She’s at peace and so am I.
    I had similar lessons as an animal care giver, and they too were painful. Those are now done for me…but LOVE is not over.
    I think Mybe the fact that the goats are your daughters, and your X is well off is just the added complication of still being entangled in the past….and like our dye bundles, there are a whole lot of elements working on the warp and weave of your fabric (you). It’s hard sometimes.
    “Don’t let it spook you, it’s normal.” That’s what I tell myself when that’s what’s happening–not always immediately…but eventually. I’m remembering what Shri Brahmananda of Ananda Ashram was reported to say in response to “Well if it’s all just immaterial, why are we here at all?”—“In order to FEEL it.”
    Meanwhile, your beautiful new grave site is a perfect devotional response, and, this sharing you offer us to enter in to is an opportunity to practice.
    I send you gratitude.

    Like

  23. ² Avatar
    ²

    we still respect you
    be shure love connect you with all
    the goats have forgive you
    they know why
    and keep thrust you
    so we do

    Like

  24. Nanette Avatar

    bless the little doeling wrapped in purple silk for contracting with you between lifetimes to be your teacher. maybe feel the feelings in little doses, only as much as you can take at a time, then do something gentle and nurturing for yourself. I agree with other commenters, the wise Albert sees you differently now, with respect, with validation, as we all do.

    Like

  25. Marti Avatar
    Marti

    He saw so may his SEEING go a long way to easing your heart because now he knows…and he offers feed and you accept and that is nourishment full circle for body,(goats) and soul, (yours).

    Like

  26. patricia Avatar

    wonder full comments and insights here. Michelle’s resonated sooooooooo fine. there’s nothing i can add except i’m here, in you your corner.

    Like

  27. Julie Avatar
    Julie

    what a sad day for you. Being in that is hard, it spins you around in a web of self doubt, that happens to me too

    Like

  28. yvette Avatar

    here speaks a dutchie who admires Spinoza
    spinoza learned me we don’t have a free choice
    the one leads to another
    from birth to death all is inluenced by all
    Grace i don’t have the knowledge to write in english what my thoughts about Spinoza learn me and it’s a learning process for me
    it goes as it is for no reason at all but this sounds too harsh
    sorry i’m not to follow i think
    one thing….YOU are the center of the universe ( yours an about the universe of other poeple…soi)

    Like

  29. deb Avatar

    I haven’t thought as harshly of you as Alberto but I have often thought about the anxiety that you cause yourself when you anthropomorphize the critters.
    Not that I don’t think that they feel, I just don’t think they feel in the way we do. Like everything else in their lives, what ever they are experiencing, it’s all in the moment and all about survival. But, that said, I would be the same kind of herd mom you are with all the loving I could spare. We can’t help it Alberto.

    Like

  30. Saskia Van Herwaarden Avatar

    i would feel responsible too and i know i would tell myself: yes, this happened and you did not want this to happen, but it did and you are part of it, BUT you have to forgive yourself and remember next time when something might be convenient for you while not entirely good for someone or something else, what would be the wise thing to do? in the long run
    my thoughts and love are with you

    Like

  31. Saskia Van Herwaarden Avatar

    i agree with all you say here Deb (we can’t help ourselves)

    Like

  32. grace Avatar

    it is what it is…Alberto
    but ragged edges are ragged edges and deserve to stay
    ragged

    Like

  33. grace Avatar

    well…
    right
    because it belongs to us. each of us “know”…from a
    place Inside. and we do or don’t and yes…see what happens

    Like

  34. grace Avatar

    this is the Least we can do. not turn away.

    Like

  35. grace Avatar

    this made me smile. when the kids were little and there
    was some kind of hard thing, i’d always say
    “Wanna go play Putt Putt?”…they did. and we would. and
    we would just Go from there….

    Like

  36. grace Avatar

    i made a bad decision. and yes. now the consequence.
    and yes too…i love Peace and Love.
    ALL of it.

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  37. dedri Avatar

    Alberto is wrong because the animals need people like you. Thank you Grace for being you and sharing it with the goats and with us.

    Like

  38. grace Avatar

    thing is, i knew. i just wanted to imagine that everything would be ok. i knew tho. he was too old. i knew that.

    Like

  39. grace Avatar

    what i need to understand more about now is what
    “kindness” is. what Love is.
    when it is about being a human being among penned sentient beings, then it takes on a whole different necessity.

    Like

  40. grace Avatar

    Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche talks about Idiot Compassion

    Like

  41. grace Avatar

    the Goats. the Goats just Go. yes.
    and yes, you can keep trust. i WILL learn.

    Like

  42. grace Avatar

    Alberto is not perfect either. but i have HUGE RESPECT
    for him. HUGE. i could learn a lot.

    Like

  43. grace Avatar

    my corner is Blessed with your Presence

    Like

  44. grace Avatar

    self doubt i think is useful.

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  45. grace Avatar

    Yvette…we are the Center and we are a part. both
    and simultaneously.
    Harsh is that i knew but didn’t want to know.

    Like

  46. grace Avatar

    do you think i anthropomorphize? i’m not sure. these
    GOATS…they ARE interaction. with themselves and with
    anyone or anything in their presence. i don’t know if
    i anthropomorphize. am looking closely at that. for
    instance, i do NOT ever see self as a herd MOM. they are
    equal entities to me. i don’t see them as my Mom or babies
    or myself as Their Mom. they ARE what they ARE. and they
    are intense sentient beings. more than dogs. more than
    cats in their Gift for intercommunication

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  47. grace Avatar

    yes.
    do not repeat.

    Like

  48. grace Avatar

    Alberto is wrong and right. he is wrong about some things,
    but he is right about what it takes to have animal beings
    that are not
    pets.
    pets are one thing.
    a herd of dairy goats is another.
    i learn.

    Like

  49. Jan Avatar
    Jan

    I wouldn’t have said that you anthropomorphize, grace. you study their relationships within the herd and also to their environment. their needs and preferences. I have never felt that you crossed the line into humanizing them.

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