A Peeping Tom

Bathroom Sink Pipe
Rats Entryway

My Buddhist efforts to love the rats went out the window when my coworker got bit in the face by a rat while she slept and especially since my rat, Templeton, has been a very, very NAUGHTY rat.  He usually waits until I’m sleeping to slip into my house to find whatever I forget to tuck away, such as my bar of soap that he chewed up.  My neighbor tipped me that he was probably coming in through my bathroom sink pipe like her rats do, so I found some stones to wedge perfectly into the pipe to try to block him from entering my sanctuary (see the picture).  However, I discovered that Templeton is massively buff and can easily push out those stones. 

The Stones To Plug The Rat Hole

Some mornings I find the stones thrown across the bathroom and in a panic, I look around to see if he’s still there, but fortunately he’s not a morning rat.  Even though I know the stones are clearly not stopping him, I re-wedge the stones back into the pipe to give me a peace of mind since the stones signal me if he’s there or not.  Every time I go into the bathroom and find the stones still tucked in the pipe, I feel at ease and I can go the bathroom in peace.  For now these stones are my “rat signal tool” until I can find some duck tape to hold the stones into place.  Then, we will really see how strong he is. 

The Setting!

So one night, as I was bathing in my red tub, I heard one of the stones being thrown from the pipe and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other stone whist pass my head.  OMG I knew this could only mean one thing:  HERE COMES TEMPLETON AND I'M NAKED!  My head instantly snapped toward the pipe, my heart dropped into the pit of my stomach, I clinched onto the edges of my tub and screamed in horror as his fierce triangle nose came sniffing out of the pipe.  My first thoughts were Oh my God I'm in the nude and he wants to dance again…I have no protection broom, I’m trapped, he’s going to do one of his back flips into my tub and bite my bare butt…ahhhhh  

My shrieking, wild scream held him at a standpoint and now all I could see was his long whiskers twitching out of the pipe.  Then he slowly stuck his head out and was literally just staring at me with his black alien eyes.  I was absolutely frozen with fear in my tub waiting to see what his next move would be.  If you remember from my last blog, he’s an Olympic, acrobatic rat.  So to my surprise, he didn’t perform any graceful summer saws out of the pipe; instead he remained still, calmly peering at me from the pipe.  At that moment, I realized that this rat is a freaking pervert!  My intuition about his male energy was right; this was definitely a boy rat.  Now that I think about it, he had to hear me splashing around in my tub and came to check me out.  As Americans would say, “WHAT A PERV!” or better yet, “WHAT A DIRTY RAT!”

Another Angle of the Scene

Now I sat in my tub feeling a little awkward as he was gazing at me.   I thought, I really need a cat, I really need a cat... if I had a cat this would not be happening.  Then a light bulb went off in my head and in a state of desperation and fear (I hate to admit this), I turned into a cat.  I started meowing over and over again as loud as I could at him hoping that he would think either I was a cat or there was a cat in the bathroom that would eat him and he would run away.  As each meow poured out of my mouth, I felt more courageous and my meows became louder and fiercer.  I finally was able to let go of the sides of my tub, stand up and I even started to add loud claps to my meows.  I sounded and looked like I escaped from a mental hospital.  I don’t know if my neighbors herd me or not, but if they did, I can only imagine that they must think that I am one strange foreigner.

Finally, my frantic meows and claps worked.  He took one last look at me, gave me that famous devilish grin and scurried down the pipe.  Errr I can’t believe my acrobatic rat is also a “peeping tom” rat.  What type of rat will he be next? A cross dressing rat?

Meditation Time!

Meditation Time!

I think that it’s healthy to be able to laugh at your insanity, but at the same time have the willingness to change for the better.  Thus, I will be the first to acknowledge that I turn into one crazy gal at the sight of a rat, but I refuse to stay erratic forever.  In fact, this year in Bhutan, I hope to let go of all my unnecessary fears including the ones that haven’t come to the surface yet.  So since I’ve cured my fear of the Bhutanese stray dogs, I’m confident that I can get over my fear of these fat rats with a little help from a divine source.  After I did some serious reflecting on how I came to be all uptight about rats and everything else I’m deathly afraid of (spiders, bears, etc.), I sincerely asked the heavens above to show me a way to let go of all my silly fears as I am ready to end my unpredictable behavior. 

Buddha Meditating
 At Buddha Point

Then a few hours later out of nowhere, I felt like one of my books that I haven’t noticed in months was screaming my name and the urge to pick it up had become overpowering.  I have already come to know this feeling as the “whispering” of some higher force (God, Buddha, guides, intuition, universe…) that speaks to my soul.  It happens to me every time I ask to be shown a higher way and I have countless experiences that would make some peoples' hairs on the back of their neck stand up.  Sometimes the “whispering” directs me to amazingly specific answers to my questions that are contained in books, an email, a conversation or someone will randomly hand me an article and ta-da the answer is right before my eyes.  So when I felt an intense urge to open my book, I was not too shocked that the random page I chose to read was a meditation exercise to release fear and reprogram beliefs.  If anyone is interested in shifting their beliefs, I summarized a short version of Sanaya Roman's meditation exercise that I was "led" to:

(I can just hear my sister saying what a complete waco I am for sharing this meditation, so I hope that it's not too eccentric for you all.  Enjoy!) Before you begin, put yourself into a higher state through breathing and clearing your mind.  

Picture yourself growing smaller and smaller while taking your consciousness like a dot of light into the core of your cells.  Now you are the dot of light in the nucleus of your cells.  Ask your DNA to release any programs, decisions, or beliefs that are not serving you and your growth (At this point, I released all my useless fears including the one for poor Templeton).  You do not need to know what these beliefs are; simply ask for them to be released.  Send love through your heart to your DNA and surround it with light.  Mentally tell your DNA that you want to reach your highest potential in this lifetime.  Ask for its assistance to bring in new programs, beliefs, and thoughts that will make it possible to reach your highest potential in this lifetime…when your finished return your awareness to the room...