How to Live Upside Down

Yes friends, it is that time of the week, to Be Happy, Link Up and review my happiness project. Of my three resolutions for my month of All Things Creative, the one I have really been thinking a lot about is number three, head stands, or to actually makes sense, seeing things from different perspectives.

This week, I actually had a harder time with this than I thought. I really expected that if I had a problem and I saw it from a different perspective, the solution to said problem would come streaming into my brain like lightning, the nice kind, not the kind that kills you.

The trouble is, even when I physically move myself through a head stand, laying on the floor, working in a different space… the new perspective, just doesn’t seem to be coming. Things look pretty much the same, only upside down or to the side. My poor little literal Virgo brain is just not open and fluid like I would prefer. Blast!

And so, I am looking to those who live upside down for some guidance. I am very pleased to introduce, The Hanged Man, Bitty the bat and senior two-toed sloth. The interesting thing about these three, is that while they are all upside down, not one is actually standing on their head, rather, they are suspended by their feet. Perhaps that is my problem!

So Hanged Man, what can I learn from you? Number 12 of the Major Arcana in a tarot deck, The Hanged Man is a notoriously mysterious card. If he were to show up in a reading, his meaning might not be clear right off the bat. But traditionally, he symbolizes, letting go, reversing (had not that about that! Perhaps I should do something backwards?), suspending action and sacrificing.

Now on to the bat. Bats are really misunderstood creatures. I personally find them adorable and was thrilled to find in my photo search that there are actually bat sanctuaries. The tarot deck I actually use, features a bat as The Hanged Man, I love. The thing is I don’t know much about bats so it’s hard to learn from them. I found this fun article, 13 Incredible Bat Facts on Animal Planet, and what do you know, I found a life lesson, they are everywhere! Bats have very limited eye sight so they have to rely on their other senses to get around. True they have echolocation and I don’t, but it occurred to me how much I rely on my eye sight for inspiration. Another pathway to creativity and seeing things differently may be throwing on a blind fold and exercising my other senses for a change. I thought of this at midnight, so I am yet to try it. Stay tuned.

Oh sloth, you are such an interesting little beast. Another quick googling and I was able to find some crazy facts about sloths, see here and here. Before I get to the life lessons from sloths, I would just like to digress a moment and point out that sloths have a terrible time surviving in zoos. Read the links I posted for more info and I don’t want to go into a total rant, but zoos are actually really bad places for animals. Before you go to one, please do your research and support a sanctuary instead. I just have to mention that or my soul would die a little.

Okay so what can we learn from these fab creatures, sloths can actually move really quickly if need be, but they don’t. They only take a dump, once a week. ONCE A WEEK! My gut hurts thinking about that. They can produce offspring once a year but sometimes they don’t because it can take longer than that for a male and female to actually meet. Also, they pretty much do everything besides take dumps while hanging upside down. The life lesson here is not poop less, please poop frequently, eat veggies, make it happen.

The lesson is that it is okay to take things slow. Even The Hanged Man is saying be patient, hang out a while. And here is what I think my real problem has been, I want that lightning bolt, RIGHT NOW. But you can’t command lightning… so be patient.

Here I go, I’m going to keep on keepin’ on, doing head stands, maybe try hanging upside down (playground anyone?), explore my senses and all the while be patient about it.

If you think you want to try it with me, here is a lovely video from Lululemon on how to do a head stand. Ready, set, go!

[Photo Cred] Binky via Bat World Sanctuary (yeah, you can adopt this cutie!), Sloth via Field Museum Library

Tagged as: be happy link up, head stands, personal, perspectives, the happiness project