For those who don't know where I live,
I have a micro-farm in the Netherlands.
Actually it's pretty centrally located,
But still it's a nice large area where I have some animals and where I can host retreats,
Small-scale homely retreats.
And during one of my last retreats I had a guest noticing that there was a rat walking through my garden.
And there's a lot of wetland here with some ditches and with the food of the animals,
Of the chickens and all the animals around,
It's not really surprising.
But still,
I mean,
I rather do not have them than have them.
So when the retreat was finished,
I noticed that I was procrastinating and I was really putting it off to start searching for the place where the rat was hiding.
I was pointed towards one place by one of my guests and that was underneath a piece of wood.
And I noticed that morning when I knew I had to take action,
I was making up stories.
I was like,
Okay,
What if I move this piece of wood and there is like a nest?
What if they're small?
What if the rat has babies?
What will I need to do then?
I need to catch them,
They will be running away,
They will be like helpless little babies.
I don't want them in my garden,
I don't want to have offspring in my garden.
But do I want to kill them?
So there were so many stories coming up.
What if,
What if,
What if?
At some point I catch myself,
Because I know rats also represent something.
Every animal has their own message,
Brings in a certain energy of course.
It has also a certain message and there is no one message,
At least that's how it is for me,
There is no one message of one animal that serves everyone.
And for me rats are demons.
They are not demons,
For me rats represent that my old shit is coming up,
Old demon stories.
Let's phrase it like that.
And I knew that I was avoiding to look at something apparently,
Because this rat showed up.
That's how I look at life.
But with this way of looking I was also attaching stories,
Because I made it much,
Much,
Much bigger than it was.
Because at some point I finally decided to take action and just start lifting the piece of wood and see what was underneath it.
And you probably guessed it by now,
Nothing at all.
There was no nest,
There were no baby rats,
There was just,
There was evidence that there had been a rat.
Because of the stuff which the rat brought to that place.
Which we had seen happening.
But there was no nest,
There was no rat,
There were definitely no baby rats.
And that made me laugh,
Because at that point I realized again how much stories can hold you back.
That stories,
I mean,
They make up an illusion.
The illusion that something is the way it is.
But you can always make another story.
And if the rat would have been there with the baby,
It would have been showing me something.
That I needed to clean out my shit,
Figuratively speaking.
And also literally.
But with seeing and observing what is going on,
What is showing,
What is your surroundings showing you,
You have like a guidance,
A signpost for what is happening in the energy inside of you.
And can you step out of your attachment to your situation,
To your story?
If you feel that you need to take action,
Take action.
But look at what is triggering you to guide you in that.
It is this delicate balance.
But for sure,
Once you start making up stories,
You will become trapped in a loop.
And catch yourself when you are.
Because then you have the opportunity to step out of that loop.
And how do you do that?
By doing something else.
But doing something else is changing the situation.
You take control,
You take healthy control,
And you change your reality.
You take responsibility for what is happening.
Like I did with the rat.
I felt like,
Okay,
This is showing me something.
It brought me,
The story brought me into a mode of fear.
I don't hope there will be baby rats,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah,
Blah.
But once I took action,
I took control over my situation.
I don't let my demons rule my life.
So,
I am curious whether you have experienced something like this.
So,
Take a moment,
Whether you can see whether something in your environment really showed up to guide you.
And to have you realize that you can take inspired action,
But rather not be trapped in this story of fear.
