We had a nest of 6 baby bunnies in the bush outside our front door. I can’t even begin to express in words how adorable they were. Checking on these baby bunnies (from a safe distance, of course), discussing where their mother was, making bets on their birthday, provided hours of entertainment.
We knew their time in our bush was limited. They were full of fuzzy hair, with pointy ears and wide-open eyes. They were beginning to move around more and more, some of them even venturing outside the nest a bit.
Then, last Thursday, Miller had a late soccer game. We pulled into the driveway around 9 pm and as the headlights shone into the yard, we saw mommy bunny.
My husband stopped the car. Mommy bunny stopped in her tracks and stared at our huge vehicle. In our sitting there, we saw that 4 or 5 of the baby bunnies were on their way to following her. They all froze and stared at us.
In The Little Book of Big Change, I wrote about how a colleague once told me that when animals in nature get lost, they instinctively stop or they slow down to regain their bearings. They are designed to do this.
We are animals in nature too, and we have the same nature and the same instincts. The difference is that when we’re lost, confused, or startled, we tend to speed up and go faster.
We think over our instincts and think, “Oh no, there’s a problem. Outrun it! Hide!”
What if we were to stop or slow down and let something bubble to the surface, rather than springing into action–any action–just for the “comfort” of doing something?
Mommy bunny didn’t bolt. She didn’t lose her cool, run off, and leave her babies behind. (She seems to have taken 4 or 5 to safety, then later came back for the others. When we were in the house).
She slowed down and regained her bearings. If it works for her, maybe it would work for us too?