Open your heart, not your wallet.


Can you recall the time when you had to face the thing that scared you the most?

I was standing by the main road, near my place when I saw a school girl happily walking by….as she was, a stray dog was approaching her and she responded with fear and instinctively moved aside.

 That got me thinking of the time I had a similar experience, Here’s my story
: I live in a neighborhood, which has a beautiful Hill nearby, surrounded by  by a mini forest around it. To complete the scenery there is a stream nearby as well, mostly sewage and garbage but nevertheless a stream. And my home is right at the edge, where the mini forest ends and the civilization begins. So there are birds of all kinds, for ex: nighthingales, parrots, pigeons, eagles others I don’t even know the names of.  Various insects and  butterflies as well. The pattern on some of the butterflies is so wonderful, that you can drool at it for minutes on end ….All this natural diversity is both wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time..
è So one day, I wake up and as usual get ready and come out of  the door to head to the gym. Now right outside the main door, there is a shoe stand….one of those old metal shoe stands. As I bent down half asleep to get my shoe, I saw a baby cobra hiding at the back of the stand. Now my first reaction was that of terror, of biblical proportions. When I say biblical, I mean a cacophony of Temple bells started off in my mind, women were doing the nagin dance, a village was on fire! Then I decided to consciously name and rejected my fear and observed the snake. The baby was petrified more than me, coz it had curled the end of its tail to the corner of the stand in a firm grip. And its head was oscillating from side to side, probably due to stress.
 Then I remembered one of the episodes from a Discovery channel show…where they cover the crocodile’s eyes, immediately after capturing it….to reduce the stress. So I got a big shoe box, opened the lid and placed the box vertically at one corner of the stand. Essentially closing one escape route.The box had depth and that corner now appeared dark just like the burrow the baby lives in. then I started tapping with a stick from the other end and as I did the snake started moving toward the box…..once it went inside the box, I carefully lowered it and closed the lid. Then my brother handed it off to a snake rescue guy he knew.
 So my conscious shift in mindset from that of fear to that of love and understanding….not only saved the animal but also helped me feel a kinship, a connection with the animal. Something I did not know I was capable of feeling, with an animal I was so scared of.

As a plan of action next time we see a dog, a transvestite, or a beggar approach ….Lets try to reject our fear and respond with an open heart instead of  an open wallet alone.