Robin Song and Suffering

 Suffering is your perceptions clashing with reality. 

Sven Schneiders

I heard a robin singing yesterday as I walked along the cedar-lined trail close by.  I felt a twisting in my gut as I heard that beautiful song.  Why? It is January on the Atlantic Canadian coastline...a very challenging climate for migrating birds like Robins, to endure. Knowing that on the conceptual level, my mind automatically said "This isn't right. This shouldn't be.  Robins don't do winter. He /she should have flown south months ago. The poor thing will likely suffer and perish if the weather gets any worse and it will likely get worse.  Something terrible is happening to our atmosphere and environment that is confusing the natural flow of things. This isn't right." 

 From there I found myself thinking about climate change, a suffering world, the suffering beings in my own little life, and my own puny suffering. Though it was not articulated...this thought emerged from the depths of my psyche: "There is so much suffering in the world!" I then felt an uneasiness throughout the rest of the day that I tried to escape through my Tai Chi practice, yoga, housecleaning, knitting, reading etc.... Whenever I thought of that robin, I felt the compulsion to "do" something that would bury the thoughts and feelings associated with that trigger. I couldn't seem to distract enough. I still feel that knot in my gut this morning.

A beautiful song...followed by a host of negative thoughts.  Hmm! What went on in there?

Well, I think there were two things going on...Firstly, there was an instinctual alarm going off signalling my perceptive "survivor's" brain to determine when there is something out of order that might validate my need to be on alert and secondly there was  a habitual and negative pattern of responding to such things followed by resistance occuring. 

Yes...it was instinctual to feel alarm when one hears such "dissonance"...My physical brain knew automatically that the song, though beautiful and soothing in spring, was highly "unusual" in winter.   It picked up the unsuitability of that sound. It concluded that this sound should not be heard this time of the year. This  "should not" led to a physical reaction to prepare this human to fight, flight, or freeze.   Almost automatically I felt something was "wrong" and the belly clenched up. From amygdala to belly in a matter of milliseconds. 

The second part of that is that the resisting mind kicked in with the alarm from the amygdala and the subtle reactivation of the sympathetic nervous system.  Instead of simply just accepting that there was a robin singing around me in winter...I automatically went into resistance mode... "No! This is wrong, bad, shouldn't be?" 

Shouldn't be?

Where does that "shouldn't be" get us?  Nowhere.  Why? Because...It is.  That simple... The reality is: there was a robin out there for whatever reason. Right time/wrong time...doesn't matter.  There was a robin singing outside on a cool January morning. 

From the "shouldn't be" the resisting mind gathered the forces of the negative mind to prove its point...to validate a deeply held core belief that "there is too much suffering in the world"...and a host of negative thoughts emerged, also it seems, automatically...I was pulled into "suffering mind"...a mind that perceives and dwells in the suffering and misery of the world. I concluded that the robin was suffering or would suffer miserably because it was in a time and place it "shouldn't " be in. From there it just got more negative as I pictured it searching for food it couldn't find, freezing, and starving to death. Now there was a good dose of compassion and genuine concern for the well being of another wrapped around all that thinking...a sense of inter-beingness and connection etc ....which is always wholesome...yet the perception of the possible turn of events was very negative, unskillful, and unwholesome. I automatically assumed the worse suffering because the mind judged the situation as "bad, wrong, shouldn't be."  It validated my core beliefs about suffering. From there the suffering of those around me filled my mind. It was uncanny how fast it all seemed to happen. Then, I went into resistance mode trying to forget about the robin and all the thoughts it brought with it, to distract and numb as I supressed and repressed...which just made all the other things I had stuffed come up. This brought me to this one truth...this human I call "me" suffers when things are not as she assumes they "should be" and she automatically gets lost in negativity related to a core belief which leads to her resistance-to -suffering behaviours. 

What can be learned from this?

Well, obviously I must explore and counter this deeply held core belief that comes up with triggers that "there is too much suffering in the world".  Do you have such a belief you too need to counter?

Is there too much suffering in the world?

There is suffering for sure.  But is there too much or just enough to wake us up? What is this suffering and where does it come from, anyway? That suffering, I see clearly,  does not originate "out there" when things seem out of place.  It originates and blossoms in the human mind when we assume things should be different than what they are and we then resist the reality of what is. Suffering is a "perception" not a life happening. 

Is that robin actually suffering? January is not the most suitable time for a robin to be here. True. That robin may be colder than it is in June. True.That robin may be more challenged to find food. True. But...does the robin actually perceive suffering or just hardship? Does the robin resist the fact that it is here? Or does it simply accept that it is here regardless of its winter challenges?  It is still singing the most beautiful of songs afterall.  Truth is, we don't know why some robins are not all flying south these days.  That is between the robin and whatever changes are taking place in nature/Life. It just is.

This robin was not there to validate that "there is too much suffering in the world". It was just a robin singing in winter...It had nothing to do with this human called "me". Hearing it, though, indirectly  reminded me to look at this belief and to see my reaction to it (negative thought correlation and resistance to what is)...to relax into it and  to counter that belief with a more positive truth. 

We can explore and heal our minds and thus get beyond suffering.

All is well