Remember little man Zakai? He's up on all fours now getting into every possible crook, cranny and cupboard that mom hasn't locked him out of yet. Eight months old and he's not yet ceased to teach his mom and dad something new every few days.
Today - He's instilled the the essence of TRY. We watch him crawl across the living room floor, taking a break every few feet to take in the scene around him, should he continue to his chosen point of chaos or is there a new point in his vision to crawl towards? He continues on forward towards his TMNT mini couch in front of the single large window in our small one bedroom apartment. He's just learning how to crawl up on things and cruise along them. Lately his choice has been the window seal.
There's a particular squirrel with a white patch on his head resembling a mohawk that we've name Mr. Montgomery Mitchell, or Itchy for short. He has grown fond of us, since I assume, every morning when I leave I place a few nuts up in his tree in front of our apartment complex.
Itchy is hollering at one of the other tenants barbie sized dogs taking it's morning *ahem* and a few trees down. Zakai is smiling as he strolls up his couch to the window seal trying to get a better peak at the dark and annoyed auburn squirrel. Before reaching his target point he falls down to his butt and just stares at the window; he looks back at me. He then gets back up and climbs back onto the couch and alas again he falls, this time tears and a crawl over to mommy. I pick him up and console him for the few minutes he lets me until initially trying to push away, and I set him down. Again, he crawls over to the couch and before you know it he's looking out the window and adding to the high pitched shrieks at the barbie dog.
Now, in those few moments he taught me that for someone even as small as him, there is a magnificent amount of try in his little heart. We fall down and even 25 year old me runs to my mom crying sometimes. But looking at the goal you've set whether it be helping a squirrel friend in need defending the land of Itchy against a impending doom of the fluff ball in the kingdom beyond, or your ultimate sustainable goal and all the little stuff there in, it's all so incredibly doable with the right TRY attitude.
As you may be able to tell, I almost stopped trying. I have a crawler, I'm working, and I'm going to school full time along with the few un-necessaries in between clouding my goals with an intense amount of stress. How have I come so far off the trail? I'd like to blame it on having my son and having to up root all our plans for a time. Maybe it was needed and I had to learn a few lessons along the way.
Wilson states in his blog Buddhist Mantra, "You have planted some seeds of a certain plant (in this case Karma). However, without conditions like sunlight and water, your seed no matter how plentiful will not turn into a plant."
Now, I will not be looking at this statement from exactly his point of view with attention to karma, but the rest correlates exactly how I feel with the word TRY. You are the seed. The initial fruits that you know you can bare will only be as plentiful as how you much you encourage (sunlight) yourself, and TRY (water).
Zakai is my planter at this point. He's the one that has made be re realize my potential and what I was TRYing for.
BTW, plans are in effect for a solarized greenhouse finally. :)
