World of beast

Animal Zen Masters: The Gold Fish

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

Nature delivers the greatest Zen masters in learning how to live in the presence.

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Imagine being a shiny goldfish, same bowl, same circle, same room, same miniature castle at the bottom and and every time I am there, it looks at me with fascination. As it was the first time I was passing the bowl.

Observe with wonder.

Look up from your smartphone and observe nature, look up at the sky at night when a full moon is out or smell the air after rain on a sunny day. The world is a pretty cool place when you just take the time to observe it with wonder.

Animal Zen Masters: The Crocodile

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

Nature delivers the greatest Zen masters in learning how to live in the presence.

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I was watching a crocodile documentary on Discovery channel. When a crocodile is swimming the only thing you see, smoothly gliding to the water, are its eyes and the tip of the nose.

Only when a prey is nearby the crocodile ejects himself from the water with tremendous power and water fountains, showing his whole body and strength. A Nile crocodile for example has a biting power of 2268 kilos.

Only be big and ferocious when it’s necessary,
be small and humble when it is not.

Animal Zen Masters: The Parrot

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

Nature delivers the greatest Zen masters in learning how to live in the presence.

Parrots (1)

Ever noticed the confidence of a parrot during the day? Noisy and colourful, moving around, checking the area. He sees any predator coming and flies away in a fraction.

At night on the other hand, all of colours in nature fade to grey. You can’t see a thing. So at night the parrot is grey, silent and doesn’t move.

Know when to be silent and know when to talk. And remember, the beauty of music is in the silence.

Animal Zen Masters: The Duck

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

Nature delivers the greatest Zen masters in learning how to live in the presence.

Photograpy - Duck swimming.preview (1)

Ducks come in many shapes and colours.
Some are hardly recognizable as a duck, but almost effortlessly they glide through the water. Underneath the surface however, their feet constantly paddle at a high speed and still, they gracefully float on the water.

Be like the duck, calm and graceful on the outside, but full of energy under the surface.

The blue blue parrot

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

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Once upon a time there lived a parrot somewhere in Africa. It was a blue parrot what made him pretty rare as such. Not only did he have a rare colour, he also was a parrot that was always cold.

Although the sun was shining ferociously, the blue parrot shivered from beak to tail and constantly complained to his friends about the fact that he felt so cold. In particular his girl friend, a gorgeous red’n’yellow parrot. “South” he always said, “south. I heard that birds from the north fly south to avoid the cold winter.”

One day his girl friend was so fed up with the complaining and told him to go south! And so the blue parrot did. He packed a few things and took off. “South” he said, “it is there I will find warmth.”

So the parrot flew and flew. Through storms and rain, but persistent to find warmth, until one day he was to tired to fly and landed. As soon as he touched the ground, he realized it wasn’t something he had felt before. Hard, white and cold! Very cold. He looked around and saw a strange looking, big black bird.

“Hello” the Emperor Penguin said, “could you spare a minute watching my egg? I have to go for a little pee, you see?” “Of course” said the blue parrot and set on the egg, while he watched the penguin wiggle away.

When the penguin came back, the parrot asked, “Why aren’t you flying?”
“Well” the penguin said, “I can’t. Although I am technically a bird, I don’t have wings to fly, that’s why I walk.”
“Oh” the blue parrot said, “but when you can’t fly, why are you black as coal, with a white belly and a golden scarf? A predator can see you from miles away!”
“Interesting observation”, the penguin replied, “but you see, we’re with thousands and we want to be seen as one black mass, so a predator is scared and hasn’t got nerve to attack.”

After the blue parrot the penguin shared some stories and food, the parrot found out he was on Antarctica. He stayed a while and became good friends with the Emperor Penguin, but at one point he decided to move on, further south, to find warmth, at least that was what he thought.

His next encounter, after a long flight, was an even stranger one; a huge black and white bear that called himself Panda. After observing the panda for a day, he asked “Why are sitting all day, just eating?”
“Well”, the panda said, my diet consists almost entirely of leaves, stems and shoots of various bamboo species. And I need around 25 kilos of the stuff a day. There’s hardly any nutrition in there, so not much else to do then eat. I know, it’s a bad habit.”

After the blue parrot the panda shared some stories and food, the parrot found out he was in China. He stayed a while and became good friends, but at one point decided to move on, further south, to find warmth, at least that was what he thought.

He flew on and on until he saw White Shiny Mountains in the distance. When he landed, a completely white bear, which friendly asked what a bleu bird like himself was doing on the North Pole, accompanied him. “North Pole?” the bleu parrot said in a slight panic? But I have flown South all the time, how is this possible?” The Polar Bear didn’t know either.

“So, why are you so white?” the parrot asked, “nobody will see you, isn’t that dangerous?” “On the contrary” the white bear said, “it helps me to move closer to something I can eat, without being noticed. But don’t worry, I won’t eat you. You don’t look appetizing in blue and besides, I’m about to go into hibernation.”

“Hibernation? What’s that?” The bird replied. “Oh, it is e deep sleep for a few months.”, the bear said.
“A few months of sleeping? How boring is that!”, the bleu parrot reacted shocked, “No hanging out, no fooling around, just sleep for a couple of months! I couldn’t survive that”

The bear smiled and said “It actually is the way to survive. The coming months will be very cold and not a lot to eat, so the best way to survive is a good deep nap. A nap where the best dreams accompany me. It isn’t a bad way to pass time, let me assure you.” But the bird already had taken of the second he heard the words ‘very cold’. South. Once again! Looking for warmth.

After another long flight, the parrot touched ground to have something to eat. Suddenly the parrot saw a blurry grey spot moving his way. “Hello old chap” a small beak in the grey/white fur said, “what brings you to London?”
“London?” the bird said, “and what might you be?”
“I am an Old English Sheep dog, although not that old. Must say, very odd to see a bleu bird like you in the park walking around. Normally I see them birdy’s in a cage.”
“In a cage?” the bird replied, “that’s be awful! Nowhere to go, no way to fly, that’s not a life for a bird, that is inhuman!” The dog agreed, or at least the fury cloud with 2 eyes went up ad down.

After the blue parrot and the Old English Sheep dog shared some stories and food, the parrot a good friends with the dog, but at one point decided to move on, further south, to find warmth.

Again he took off, taking the sky, and this time, after a few weeks, the bleu parrot sensed the air was getting warmer. Also, the odour of the air changed. It evoked old memories. Memories of his girlfriend, the gorgeous red’n’yellow parrot.

Suddenly the blue parrot was caught in mid-air. Literally, as in all his musings, he flew into a tree. With much drama the blue parrot fell down and when he opened his eyes, he saw only colours.
“Have you found warmth?” a familiar voice said and when his eyes focused he recognized his red’n’yellow girlfriend!

“Funny you ask”, he said. “I met a lot of interesting creatures, heard a lot of intriguing stories and been to a lot of interesting places while going South. Strangely I am her now, right where I started and to answer your question: I never thought about feeling cold, so finding warmth somehow is not on my mind anymore. To be honest, I am glad to see you again.”

The red’n’yellow parrot looked at the bleu parrot and put her wings around him and said: “Perhaps you should focus on being warm instead of feeling cold.”

Then she smiled and said: “Oh, by the way, I have a little surprise for you”
“Daddy!” four multicolored parrots said.

The blue blue parrot is part of the World of Beast

The Indian Chicken and the practically Blind Mole

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

There are two kinds of chicken: Normal chicken and abnormal chicken. In between there’s nothing or at least not much to talk about. This story however is about a chicken that is beyond abnormal or better ‘absurdormal’ and there’s a lot to say.

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The beginning

This particular chicken lived in India and she was unhappy. She felt out of place and misunderstood. The way she talked, dressed and shared her ideas about the world did not resonate with her sister-chicken. In fact, it gave her a kind of separate status, in other words: Nobody dared to talk to her anymore.

One day she was strolling through the field alone, when the wind blew a piece of paper in her face. When she shook the paper off she saw it was a fashion magazine from America. She was amazed with what she saw and immediately knew what she had to do: Go West, going to America.

She didn’t wait long and left (chickens just travel light, because there’s not much to bring along and besides, how can chicken carry things?). She started walking and left the ground she was born and raised on and stepped into the unknown. But the unknown didn’t stop her, how could it, it was just a metaphorical barrier, and she went on with clear goal: The horizon.

After a while she realized that the horizon was a pretty abstract concept and wasn’t sure this ‘landmark’ would bring her to America…. When she sat down the most amazing thing happened: The earth moved. For the chicken it was clear. It was a sign from above: she was moving in the right direction, while actually it was a sign from below. To be more precise, it was a mole getting rid of his dirt.

The Mole

“Anyone there?” asked a small mole with a pink nose, “I thought I heard a kind of squeak, I hope I haven’t scared anyone? The thing is, I am as good as completely blind and as a result I bump into things.”

The chicken was too flabbergasted to speak sense. The only thing she’d seen come out of the ground were worms, so the most sensible thing for her to say was: “Hi, it’s me, the Indian chicken that wants to go to the west, to America”.

“America?” the mole replied, “Why on earth would you go to America? Getting halfway would take a lifetime and it’s not better then things are here. Besides, you’re going in the wrong direction!”

“I don’t care”, said the chicken, “nobody understands me here, I need to go away! To America. I need to go to a place where people understand me! I saw it in the magazine. Look at me, I am gorgeous, but nobody wants to see it!”

“Well, I am kind of blind as I told you” said the mole, “so I can’t see it either, but the way I sense your presence, you’re a beautiful creature. At the same time, listening to the words you say, I’d say it isn’t about them not understanding you, it’s about you not understanding them”.

“Say again?!” the chicken said. She was almost walking around like a headless chicken, and in this particular case, with the head still attached. The mole sensed her amazement and continued, “Yes, it is not about them, it’s about you. Think of it: It’s much easier to change yourself then to change the world, even when the world is the small field you have been livng on. The thing is, every one of them has created his own reality and they feel comfortable in it! Who are you to change it?”

“No!” the chicken replied, “I have to go West, and do not want to stay here in the East. I know for sure everybody will understand me in the West, it is there I belong. The only thing I need to figure out is where The West is and how long it takes me to get there.

Funny you mention it like that, because actually The West is nearer then you think.

“Is it?” said the chicken, “but just seconds ago you told me it takes a lifetime to get there! So please make up your mind before I go out of my mind!”

The mole looked at the chicken, but didn’t see her of course because he was practically blind and responded: “Well, the thing is The West is always next to The East. It is just a matter of how you look at it. And in your case, I think that might do the trick for you to be happy again”.

“Happy again?”
“Next to me?”
“What do you mean?”
“I really don’t understand it anymore” the chicken replied and almost fainted (of course a chicken brain isn’t that big and this overload of information that was countered by the double amount of questions, more or less made that steam came out of her ears, which in the case of a chicken are hard to find).

The mole intuitively knew the chicken almost went berserk and quickly said “Let me explain by telling you a story about a friend I have”, and he began:

The story within the story

“He was one of those fanatic runners (he was a rabbit), running every day and when you asked him what he loved about running, he said “I love running in nature, because nature takes out all the negative things I have inside, and afterwards I feel refreshed and reborn!”

But then he broke is paw and wasn’t able to run, even after it had healed he wasn’t able to run anymore so stayed inside his rabbit hole and became depressed. He couldn’t run anymore, so the negativity build-up inside him and wasn’t released while running in nature, even his fur turned grey.

At one point I ‘accidentally’ dug a tunnel into his hole and I saw him sitting there. Depressed, down, out of shape and looking 12 years older, so I reminded him that he could also stroll through nature, without running.

He looked at me for a second and realised he’d been a fool for a long time! “Yes” he said, “of course! How could I be so stupid! It is not about the running, it is about the nature and it doesn’t matter how I experience nature I just need to experience it!”.

And after that he went out (and really needed to get used to the light, because he was so much used to the darkness of his hole), so after a few stiff blinkers with his eyes, he started walking slowly and realized how great the trees were and how green the grass and how good nature was in absorbing negativity. Almost instantly he felt happy and never lost that feeling again. I asked him afterwards: “What did you learn that day?” He said: “Every time I feel depressed, I turn around, take a step back and think about the situation from the other way. By doing that I create a new perspective, which gives me so much energy! I realize everything that happens, is just the way I see it, experience it and interpret it. In fact, other rabbits gave me a new name ‘Grabbit’. Grab life the way you want”.

“Good” I said “and just hearing to those words makes me happy”

FullSizeRenderLess steam came out of her hard to find ears when she said “OK, but how does that apply to me?”

“Well” the mole answered, “It’s like I said, it isn’t about them not understanding you, it’s about you not understanding them. Maybe instead of trying to change them, it is better to understand that your judgement is based on what is happening inside you. It’s this what creates the negative perspective. Therefor, in my humble opinion, is easier to accept that you are ‘weird’ and enjoy it”.

The clue

The chicken looked like a sheep, but didn’t seem to be running away anywhere soon, so the mole continued: “It’s like doing the opposite of your first impulse. That small moment is exactly when you can change perspective from East to West (or the other way around of course, or north to south, whatever feels good at that time). And instead of reacting defensive, react open heartedly, instead of panic see the challenge, instead of angry, react with a smile, just try it and you’ll see, live gets easier and much more delightful.

A lot of things were going on in the little chicken brain, but none of them were about traveling soon or changing wardrobe, most of it was preoccupied with not tipping over and processing the word of the mole. Suddenly she heard a series of clicks went on in the tiny chicken head, so loud, even the mole could hear it and he was practically blind, then she said: “I see your point, I never looked at it like that”.

The mole smiled and said “good to hear and by the way… the direction you travelled when I bumped in to you wasn’t west. It was east. The way back to your field is…west.”

 

The moral of this story should be pretty clear, I hope and is about changing perspective. The funny thing is that we’re so caught up in habits and impulse that we forget that maybe the source of change lies within ourselves. Even the realization of this fact will have dramatic effects on any outcome. Take the time to realize.

It reminds me of a nice quote I once read:

“To cause an avalanche you can shake the mountain or find the right place to drop a snowflake”

You’re that snowflake; find the right place.

The Indian Chicken and the practically Blind Mole is part of The World Of Beat collection.

 

Pelican can?

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

Pelicano2

It was a crowded pool.

It was so crowded, the movement of the birds almost looked like a newly invented elegant dance called the PeliCanCan! Almost elegant, because pelicans aren’t the best dancers in the world, especially not when they are hungry. This particular group of pelicans was hungry.
Very hungry.

As with any group of pelicans (or other kind of hungry flock) there’s always one who’s more hungry, behaving more foolish and more idiotic.

Normal pelicans scoop the water, catching a lot of water and occasionally a fish or 2 (or anything amphibian that unfortunately was swimming in the vicinity of the pelican) caught by expanding their throat pouch. After that they go back to the land and enjoy their meal. The hungry pelican, however, kept scooping. His beak was already stretched with fish. Other pelicans advised him to return and enjoy, but the hungry pelican murmured as good and bad as it goes with a mouthful: “No! Leave me, I can handle it. No problem here, I can manage, I just want to have enough fish, just in case.”

The hungry pelican kept scooping fish and water, ignoring his pelilfriends. His throat pouch was already stretched to the max, but still he wanted to catch one more fish. And then, the pouch broke!

All the fish in the beak, which had already said their prayers and reconciled with the fact that their glorious lives would end as mere fish stick snacks on the menu of a pelican, were free and also free to reconsider the rest of their fishy lives.

The pelican on the other hand, had a serious problem. His pouch looked like a ragged shopping bag and wasn’t able to catch another fish, let alone eat it and that caused a serious problem. No fish, no food, no food, a certain death….

Fortunately there was a pelican who could mend broken pouches, so after some serious stitching, revalidation a lot of liquid food, the formerly hungry pelican survived. He could collect food in his pouch again, but didn’t dare scooping the water, nor eating fish. He ate grass instead. The hungry pelican seriously considered to become the first vegetarian pelican ever, but after a while though, he realized fish was better than grass. Besides grass gave him the gas, so he turned herbivore again, but never ever stocked more fish than his pouch could handle…

 

The moral of this story can be a bit surprising, but is about the fact that it is better to let go of any issues and talk about it then to keep them inside. It might seem more comfortable, but the essence is: “It is not”.

Although it can be a serious threshold to talk about ‘issues’, in the end, letting them out and talk about it, will release you from a burden that will prohibit you otherwise. Talking about it will make you more light-hearted and will create a lot of new insights as well. Not only that ‘letting issues out in the open’ is better then keeping them inside, it also provides you new knowledge to avoid, recognize and handle new kind of issues as they cross your path. And believe me, they will cross your path, but from now on, they are like pins when climbing a mountain. Each pin will get you higher.

Pelican can? is part of the World of Beast

The Silent Parrot

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

The Silent Parrot

The Peacock was making a lot of noise when he told the parrot that he didn’t understand why the Peahen from around the corner didn’t give him a moment’s notice. His plumage was wide open and the pattern of blue eyes was shining in the sun. He was dancing and hopping up and down furiously and kept complaining, asking the Parrot how on earth it was possible that he crashed and burned like this.

Quizzically the Peacock looked at the parrot.
The Parrot bowed his head to the left.

The Peacock said: You’re right, maybe I am overdoing and maybe she just doesn’t like the jumping, Yes! I shouldn’t jump, so she can see my feathers and me better.

Again the Peacock looked quizzically at the parrot, while his mind kept spinning.
The Parrot bowed his head to the right.

Plumage! That’s it, I am intimidating her with my feathers. She doesn’t have a tail like mine, she’s probably sad and that’s why she doesn’t look at me. I have to go see her without my plumage up.

This time the Parrot blinked his eyes twice, but didn’t move his head.

The Peacock wasn’t bothered by the earsplitting silence of the parrot and realized another thing. I shouldn’t be so loud! Because of my cackling she actually can’t hear me!

Oh? the Peacock said.

The Parrot said absolutely nothing.

You think I should go talk to her? Without the jumping, the plumage and the cackling? And don’t talk? Just sit next to her, looking at the clouds and the beautiful flowers gleaming in the sun?
…………
Thanks pall, I’ll go right to her!

Sometimes the best way to entertain people is to say nothing.

 

The Preacher Penguin

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

On a cold day, in the coldest part of the world, there stood a great crowd of penguins in the snow. They were standing close together not only to keep warm from each other’s body heat, but also because they didn’t want to miss a word of what the Preacher Penguin was saying.

The Preacher Penguin was a local celebrity. But as many local celebrities, he started out as just local and just a penguin. But he had a way of seeing and saying things that caught the attention of other penguins. More and more penguins came to listen to his stories and wisdoms and before you knew it, that couple of penguins grew into a group and the group grew into a crowd and penguins were starting to respectfully call him: The Preacher Penguin.

Pinguin

Today the Preacher Penguin was talking about journeys and the fact that not the destination of the journey is the most important goal, but the journey itself. He was saying that one should enjoy the moment and intensify the now-experience, when suddenly a loud CRACK sounded.

The loud crack was followed by a series of cracking sounds in all directions.

The ice the Preacher Penguin was standing on was breaking loose from the ‘main’ ice. What was a solid piece of rock hard ice moments before, suddenly became a drifting floe, floating into the ocean! Fortunately penguins are good swimmers, but in this case the water was inhabited by 2 hungry polar bears. So the wise Preacher Penguin stayed put on his floe, and drifted away further into the ocean followed by the polar bears…

After a while the Preacher Penguin became tired and – before he knew it – fell asleep. The floe did not but drifted on the strong currents of the ocean leaving the coast, the other penguins and the polar bears behind.

When the penguin woke up, it felt warmer than usual and he felt instantly lonesome as well. Looking around from his tiny floe, the only thing he could see was the blue-grey water of the huge ocean. Fortunately the polar bears were gone but the fish in the water were plentiful, so after a quick dive, dinner was served.

Days went by. The ‘restaurant’ stayed the same but the menu of fish changed from small icy fish to bigger tropical ones. Also the temperature rose while the foe shrunk to a point where it was hardly possible for the penguin to stand straight and keep his balance…

The final disappearance of the foe happened faster than a tip disappearing in a waiter’s pocket and suddenly the Preacher Penguin found himself swimming in a warm but wet ocean. Yet, he wasn’t afraid. He reminded himself of his last speech about the journey and the destination to stay calm. That calmness stood in sharp contrast compared to the joy and enthusiasm that engulfed him when he finally saw a destination in the shape of a golden beach.

After a stiff swim of still a few hours the penguin washed up on the beach where it lay exhausted with his beak in the sand. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain on the top of his head. And another one. When he raised his head, he saw something that he never saw before: a group of brown penguin-likecreatures with long legs and arms throwing nuts at him.

When he got up on his feet and started wiggling towards the group, they burst out laughing! Look at him walking with no feet!

Sad, but happy he survived, he moved on passing the brown creatures, walking into something that looked like a forest. He was thirsty and his tongue felt like an old piece of leather, when he passed a group of pink birds with long legs and necks. They also started to laugh in a twittering kind of way! Look at that! Black and white with wings, but not able to fly!

He wanted to reply, but because of his dry tongue, the only sound he could make was a squeaky kind, making no sense at all and almost every animal in the area started laughing. The great happiness the penguin felt when he washed ashore, was washed away by the most miserable feeling he had ever had in his entire life.

Days went by and the penguin was reminiscing about the time he was still in the coldest part of the world and that gave him a warm feeling. Suddenly he heard a scream. Alerted by his old instincts to help, he moved in the direction of the sound and found a male flamenco and a big egg.

The flamenco was panicking, because the egg was getting cold and his wife was gone fishing. Without hesitation, the penguin took the egg and put it between his legs as he had always done back in the old days and started walking. The flamenco looked surprised and asked where had learn to do that? The penguin explained while he kept walking around with the egg between his legs, until the female flamenco returned and took over.

Another day, another scream sounded through the forest. The penguin got up and wiggled in the direction of the sound, finding a group of monkeys standing on top of the rocks, pointing down at the water.

A young monkey had fallen into the water and was about to drown. The penguin did not hesitate and glided via the rocks into the water. With amazing speed, he raced through the water, grabbing the monkey with his beak just before it went down to the depths forever. He pulled him to the side of the water and heaved him out.

PinguinThe monkeys stood cheering and dancing and they hugged the penguin complimenting him with his swimming qualities, asking him where he had learned that and so on.

The penguin told them how he had learned that and why it was so important to have an open mind for new things, about friendship and the meaning of life. Slowly the group of monkeys grew and flamingos dropped by and rabbits, pigs, other birds flew in, hedgehogs listened trying to pick up something and even some foxes came to eavesdrop….

Soon a great crowd of animals was listening to the stories and the wisdoms of the penguin and it became a returning event. The penguin felt more comfortable and accepted and more liberated to tell his stories. He opened the minds of the animals and the animals inspired the penguin to share more stories and wisdoms.

The good thing was that he forgot all about his previous life and felt completely accepted in this colorful world. Suddenly he saw himself. A black and white bird that could not fly nor walk properly, and realized he had yet another fascinating story to tell: the story about the brightest colors between black and white. Not long after that story the animals started to call him The Preacher Penguin.

Again.

The moral of this story is of course what you make of it, but the intention I had with it was to explain that although you can have many talents and gifts or even just good will, in any new situation it will take time to get noticed and accepted or adapt to it and learn to deal with it. Even growing up creates situations like that.
Don’t panic, stay calm. The best way is to be yourself the best you can, but make sure you interact with the environment, the people and the situation. Sooner or later your talents will be noticed and you will be recognized. Sometimes in a way you didn’t or maybe even couldn’t imagine. The Preacher Penguin is part of the World Of Beast.

Yekrut the wisest bird on earth

Gerard S. HoffLeave a comment

Cold turkey

Yekrut the wisest bird on earth

September 23, 2014

Like all monkeys, Jake liked bananas.
He ate bananas many times a day and every time he enjoyed them like it was the first time.

Actually, the first time he ate bananas he was just a small boy. He had seen his parents and the other apes eat bananas and it looked simple. Bite at the bottom of the stem, right above the fruity flesh, rip the skin off and the delicious yellow-white meat is visible and ready to eat.

But not for Jake.
He tried to do it with his teeth once and was appalled by the bitter taste the banana skin left in his mouth and figured out a better way,using his hands and nail to break the skin right beneath the stem. Most of the time he was able to open the banana without squeezing it to pulp, and eat the delicious fruit.

One day Jake was swinging from tree to tree and had a great time until the branch of one tree broke off and our little hero wasn’t able to grab another branch and fell on the forest ground/floor.

It was just bad luck, but Jake fell with his butt on his hand that was on the root of a tree. His hand broke in the most unfortunate way. Jake screamed! It hurt like he never experienced pain before.

But that wasn’t the biggest problem.
The first time he tried to open a banana, he experienced a furious pain in his right hand and wasn’t able to open up the banana….

Drama.

So he tried his left hand, but because his left was less developed than his right hand, he squeezed the banana right beneath the stem into pulp. And Jake didn’t like the pulpy taste. That made him unhappy and he started to complain.

James was the leader of this particular gang of apes. Actually nobody called him James, everybody called him Monk, because he had this bold spot on the back of his head. Something he wasn’t really happy about, but couldn’t see either, because he had no mirror. Only when he looked in the river he was able to see his face and hair and that looked quite good, so….
Monk heard Jake complain, and complain.

After 3 days of continuous complaining Monk was fed up with Jake’s negativity, so he went to him and complained back.

At the end of the downward spiral of discussions and no solutions, Monk had an idea. A long time ago, he heard about a wise turkey living in a big hollow tree deep in the forest. As the story goes, this turkey always had a solution, for any problem. This is why he was wise.

So Jake went to see this wise turkey. After a small journey he found the huge turkey in the hollow tree and before Jake could speak, the turkey asked “Can I help you, Jake?”.

Jake was very surprised the turkey knew his name!
When he found back his tongue, he explained how he broke his right hand and wasn’t able to  open a banana with his left hand by twisting the stem without squeezing the banana into pulp and he didn’t want to bite and he really liked bananas!

What should he do!?

Softly the turkey suggested Jake to turn the banana upside-down and try it again.

Jake was so surprised by this answer that he couldn’t move and just stood there with his mouth half open and a banana in his hand. He then slowly turned the banana upside-down, still staring at the turkey. Then with his left hand he twisted the bottom of the banana and without any effort, the skin opened. The banana did not turn in to pulp and the white, tasty fruit stared at Jake. Surprised he took a bite and it was delicious!

“This is great!”, said Jake, “Thank you very much. How did you know the solution to my problem was so simple”?

The turkey replied “Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned*”.

It is important to understand that many of us do things because we’ve always done them like that. Because of that we believe it is the truth. And this truth has never been tested. It works because everybody believes it is the truth, so why change.

Actually what you just opened is the top of the banana, not the bottom.

A banana grows upside-down. It’s called negative geotropism or growing against gravity, said the turkey. Because of that, the stem has to be very strong to keep the banana up. If it were not, the stem wouldn’t be able to keep the banana growing upside-down.

What you tried to do was to open the toughest part of the banana…

Jake said: When you say it like that, it sounds so logical!
You are truly the wisest bird on earth.
What is your name?

My name is Yekrut.

Yekrut? Jake asked.

Yes, Yekrut.
It used to be just Turkey, said the turkey, but when I grew up, I created a simple vision and that is to reverse ordinary thinking. Questioning and testing what we’ve learned and how we do things in a certain way because we always have.

When the birds and the other creatures heard me solving problems by reversing the ‘truth’, they started to call me Yekrut.

Yekrut is Turkey spelled backwards.

The morale of this story is that we have a tendency to do things or believe things without questioning whether it is actually true or validated or still applicable.

Because of that we create our own belief system and become averse of regarding existing things with a fresh pair of eyes.
But there is a whole different way of looking at this:

Knowledge from the past is like a good weight.
New knowledge is like a trampoline.
Using this weight on the trampoline releases a lot of energy.
When you’re open to this way of thinking, the only thing you need to do is decide in which direction you want to jump.

I wish for you a fresh pair of eyes and new things to see.

*Mark Twain