Once there was a woman chased by a tiger.
She ran with everything she had, straining her muscles to put as much distance between herself and the tiger as possible.
Still, the tiger got closer, for she could not outrun it.
The woman ran to the edge of a cliff and saw it had vines growing downwards. She scrambled over the edge, clinging to the vines as she climbed, and looked down. More tigers waited below, licking their jowls.
The tiger roared from above and she looked up. A mouse was gnawing away at the vine she clung to.
And then the woman noticed a strawberry. It was ripe and red, growing out of a tuft of grass on the cliff.
She glanced down at the tigers, then up at the mouse.
The woman plucked the strawberry and popped it into her mouth, savoring the most delicious thing she had ever tasted.
(A retelling of a famous zen koan.)
Shit happens.
Life ends in death.
Are you focusing on the tigers?
Or enjoying the strawberries of your life?
Yours in love and play,
Steph 🐲❤️
