Wisdom from the Manatee

The Cloud and the Silver Lining

This week, I am discouraged and demoralized about the Paris Climate Agreement and our current administration’s decision to pull out of the agreement. After a string of executive orders that are destroying our environment, eroding our social system and turning the clock back in every way on every issue that matters to me, this was the final obnoxious straw for me.

The silver lining was learning that the US can’t actually just leave – it takes three to four years – and leaders at every level in the US and around the world are rallying to promote the Agreement and move forward with the agreement with the support of the American people if not the current American government.

Enter the Manatee

The power to make a difference and change the course of global climate change is in our hands and the vast majority of the world is totally on board and ready to roll up their sleeves and get to work. As I stewed about the inconceivability of this decision, the words “the power is in your hands” came back to me like an echo in my mind. I knew I’d heard those words before from an animal, so I dug through my notes from the Animal Wisdom Circle.

Last March, our guest in the Animal Wisdom Circle was a manatee living on the east coast of the United States and she said those very words to me as part of her message to people. I’m surprised I didn’t feature her before now, but this week is the perfect time to share her wisdom with the world.

The Manatee’s Spiritual Gift

The manatee said that her spiritual gift was being completely in the present moment focusing on the job at hand. It reminded me of the story of the Zen disciple (whose job was to bang the gong to call the community to their meals) asking his master, “How do I become more Zen?” “Bang the gong,” was the answer. A meditative state of Zen is achieved by focusing on the job at hand, whatever it is, and doing it completely. According to Zen tradition, this is the way to achieve spiritual enlightenment.

On the call, I suddenly remember a time when I was at a boat dock getting gas in South Carolina when a manatee popped up and started drinking from a garden hose. That manatee totally loved the water, coming part way out of the water to reach its flippers out to hold the hose. She flopped around and sank underwater and came eagerly back up to the hose over and over again. She was just really, really enjoying that water.  The manatee on the Animal Wisdom call tells me that when you’re drinking water, drink water and really love whatever you do.

Doing one thing and doing it fully is the art of focusing. You do the job at hand. You focus on what you’re doing and you don’t get pulled or distracted by things that aren’t part of that.

The Manatee’s Spiritual Lesson

When I got the answer to this question I felt it more in my body rather than hearing it in words… a line of tightness stretching from my chest to my belly button evoked a feeling of loss or grief. Then I heard the words “losing yourself, letting go and losing yourself.” Next I saw an image of dozens of manatees together at a warm water spring in the winter. I see a stack of three manatees on top of each other just floating there. It’s almost like hibernation. When they congregate around the warm water like this, they let go of their individual identity and focus solely on survival. The manatee tells me that it’s like putting yourself on hold.

She clarifies for me that her Spiritual Lesson is about letting go of your individual identity and losing part of yourself in a sense because you are putting yourself on hold. I realize that we all do this in some way, hiding a part of ourselves to try to fit in and be accepted. We all have had this experience. Although she may be talking about it in a literal sense, I feel like we can take her message as a metaphor for all the ways that we lose our truth and lose ourselves and put ourselves on hold in our lives.

The Manatee’s Message for People

Her message is strong: I clearly hear the words “Don’t fuck it up” as I see a picture of the coastline. “The power is in your hands,” she continues. “It could still go either way. You have the balance of power.” Again I see how this message is so specific to the environment but it can also be interpreted broadly to mean that in any situation, the power is in your hands and you have the power to choose the future you want.

The manatee reminds me that as the most destructive species on the planet, the responsibility for keeping the planet alive rests in our hands. We do hold the power to change the future and our global health can still go either way.

What Can We Do?

An Animal Wisdom Circle member on the call asked the manatee what we as individuals can do to fight global warming and climate change. Her answer was beautiful.

She said, “Choose the natural option. Whenever you have a choice, choose whichever is the more natural option because then you’re automatically choosing for the environment. There’s a domino effect. Eventually if more people choose the more natural option, the tide will turn.”

I reflected that the more we can live a simple, natural life the more we’re saying ”no” to climate change and “yes” to nature. It feels like a mantra: I’m choosing nature, I’m choosing nature.

It’s not dogmatic and there are no rules. It’s just really practical: whenever there’s a choice, choose the more natural option. It just boils down to that no matter what the question is.

Now It’s Your Turn

What does the manatee’s message mean to you? How are you making the choice in your daily living to choose the more natural option? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

PS We will be talking to a Praying Mantis in the Animal Wisdom Circle this month. Click here for your 1-month trial membership at the Sage level and get access to the Animal Wisdom call and the Inner Alignment call this month.