”My mother used to tell me how, as a child in the countryside, she used to find snakeskin in the fields. They were pieces of dried skin that would easily flake off when children touched them. Snakes shed their skin every few months. It becomes harder and harder on the outside, to resist contact with the various surfaces the snake crawls on, and softer and softer on the inside, so that it can mould itself to the snake’s greasy body.
This priming is a very good survival mechanism, from the animal world, from which we can draw inspiration.
What if we humans could change too, more quickly, leaving behind habits that are no longer useful, that are holding us back? I don’t advocate changing values, principles, or integrity. But there are many things we can leave behind.
For example, we know that every moment is unique, whether it’s 1 January, 3 February, 8 March, or any other date. How do we shed the skin of March 11 to take on the skin of March 12, be more present in each moment, enjoy the moment more, care less about what is not essential, and let go of resentment, envy, hatred? Or should we care more about our own goat, not our neighbour’s?
I know, our memory is present and that’s fine, we don’t want to be amnesiac. We want to learn from past events, they are part of who we are, we don’t deny them. But these events can also become a trap. We often live in the past, making all sorts of scenarios about how it could have been, what we should have said, done, how someone offended us, and this eternal rumination prevents us from enjoying the present, keeps us prisoners in a battered, bruised, bleeding skin, a skin we seem to refuse to care for, heal, change.
If we think about it, life’s great sufferings do not necessarily come from the outside, from what others say or do to us. Of course, these aspects are also important, as are our interpretations of external events. It is precisely these interpretations, in fact, that influence our reaction to events, our state.
But perhaps we suffer most when we feel that we are stuck, that we cannot move, that we cannot change anything around us, that we are immobilised in anguish, anxiety, suffering. We end up spending years with the same thoughts, grievances, scenarios about the past.
I know it’s easy to say and hard to implement, and yet, I think we can propose a change of mindset. This means letting life flow, letting go of what is holding us back, of prejudices, grievances, hatred, envy, resentment, like the snake sheds its skin.
After all, we might see ourselves as a moving statue, one that we are continually building on. Or as our own work of art, constantly being perfected, always tending towards becoming a masterpiece. We would feel better knowing that we are a work in continuous construction than if we felt like the chess king feels when he is in checkmate.
For example, when we feel sad, anxious, with clouds hanging over our heads, when we seem to have run out of hope, let’s go to the window, open it and let the sun in. Or call a friend, an acquaintance, and ask how they are. This effort to act will help us change our perspective. When we no longer find meaning in our work, getting involved in a social cause, giving of our time and experience helping others, will change our perspective.
In conclusion, I would like to mention a Sanskrit word: ‘karuna’, which means compassion. The Sanskrit word is very similar to this word that reflects the reality we have been living for two years now: corona.
I propose that for the future, we leave behind the coronavirus, like a skin that we take off, we strip off, and that we imbue ourselves with another breath, that we take on, that we adorn ourselves with another mantle, another ‘snakeskin’, that of the ‘karuna virus’, the virus of companionship, of caring for others. It is something we all need, all the more so after two years of fog, insecurities, anxiety, isolation, loneliness. Compassion turns us towards others, ourselves wrapped in the cloak of involvement, of evolved emotional intelligence, of sophisticated sensitivity!”
via: Forbes