The Wild Way…

I’m reading the Lion Tracker’s Guide to Life and finding some good nuggets. Here’s one that hit me square between the eyes – “no wild animal has ever participated in a should.”

Humans get lost in shoulds all the time. Lost in the moment and lost in life. I should attend that social function that I really don’t have any interest in. I should buy a car like Fred’s. I should get a responsible job. I should, I should, I should. “Shoulds are full of traps – traps laid by society and your limited rules for yourself.”

Wild animals, on the other hand, they do what they instinctively know is the thing they should do. Lions are social creatures and spend their lives in prides. Bears on the other hand live the majority of their lives alone. Bears don’t seek out a group of friends because they should. They’re instinctively wired to be alone and they do so without a second thought.

The thing is we have the same wiring deep within us, I believe. We know how we’re wired. To be with, to become, to live out our unique gifts, to be wildly and weirdly ourselves. It’s all in us, the noise of the shoulds just drowns it out. So slow down. Pay attention. What do you love? Why do you love it? What direction are you wired to go in? What’s stopping you?

Less shoulds, more tuning in. That’s how we find our wild way.