Beyond the binary is what you want

I learned something via the raspberry bush in my front yard, and wanted to share it with you.

I love it when nature reminds us what's what.

A gif of a woman teacher in a classroom sitting on top of her desk with an apple in her hand smiling and eagerly saying “Time to get schooled!”

So: this is our third summer in this house.

The first summer, we discovered we have an enormous raspberry bush out front. For weeks, we'd gather bowls of beautiful berries every day.

But the second summer . . . though the bush grew lots of berries, we didn't get a single one.

The birds got to them first.

My mind got busy figuring out why.

I realized that the first raspberry season was also one of those cicada summers, and I decided that the birds didn't eat our berries because they were feasting on bugs.

My mind also decided that since the cicadas won't be back, and since I wasn't going to rig up a big bird deterrent situation, we probably wouldn't get to enjoy berries again.

*sad trombone*

What happened there was what happens often in our human minds: Binary Thinking.

Black or White

Yes or No

People Berries or Bird Berries

What a reductive, limiting way of seeing the world.

As we quickly discover, when we pay curious attention to reality, there are so many more than two options.

And as I'm discovering, this summer:

when I pay curious attention, I can find ripening raspberries before the birds do.

Not whole bowls . . . or not yet, anyway. But berry by berry, the binary is breaking down, and possibility is opening up.

My friend, I wonder:

Where has your mind locked you into a binary?

Possible / Impossible

Ready / Not Ready

They Love Me / They Love Me Not

Yes / No

Wherever that is, pay closer attention.

Ask yourself what you want. What you're hoping for.

And open to abundant possibility that you can have it.

love,

Natalie