Adaptation

Survival of the fittest depends on adaptability, wouldn't you say?  To adapt is to be flexible, to adjust, to let go of rigidity in order to make the best of evolving situations.  If nothing in the natural world stays the same, why do we resist change so much?

On a recent morning, at 4am, I was again awoken by howling coyote.  They come through the pasture across the road from me.  The routine is, I get up, open the window and make "ssssst" noises and shine my mag light around and lately I've been turning on the overhead light in my yoga room; they do not like the light and it sends them scooting.  Then it dawned on me, just before dawn, that I shall leave my yoga room light on all night.  It's not the ideal energy conservationist's solution, but because it's so dark here, the light floods out just past my front gates, and I have a better chance of a well deserved night of uninterrupted sleep.

I can't stop the coyote from doing what they do, but I can lend them a deterrent before they get thinking about howling outside my windows!  With this crafty thought of adaptation for a change in the dynamic in mind, I drifted back off.

We don't realize how much we can adapt.  I guess it's a matter of choice.  Fight like mad to keep your position, usually based on pride and stubbornness, or open up and find another way.

Watching my animals, I see how often and how willingly they adapt.  They trust that if I am asking them to do something different, it's going to work out.  It doesn't take much to set a new routine, just a little communication, confidence and a satisfactory experience.  Their instinct guides them and they don't second guess that.  We can learn something here.

One of the key words on a card I drew the morning of my coyote fix was "adaptation."  It said to make lemonade of lemons, which presumably one would do before the lemons spoil.  So, things do not have to get unbearable before we make a change.  Change is part of life.  It's seasonal.  It's daily.  In fact, it's by the second, isn't it?  If we trust our instinct, our gut, our intuition, any of those you want to use, if we trust ourselves, we can't go wrong.

I did adapt.  I let go of something that had been bugging me for some time now and while it's yet to be seen how it will evolve, I feel like I shed a layer and have a new perspective.  Isn't that the point of adapting?