A fox came last night and took all our ducks, including our favourite mallard who we rescued 3 months ago after he was shot in the adjacent farmer’s field and his wing was half blown off. The other ducks graciously welcomed him into their clan and we all delighted in watching them waddle single file around the garden, quacking joyfully. They filled all our hearts with joy. Their pond has been frozen for the last few days so their refuge, despite being small, was unavailable and the fox, taking advantage of the cold snap, seized its chance. A predator taking its prey, so similar to yesterday’s barn owl and vole but this time I’m left feeling sadness, tinged with a level of guilt and responsibility instead of awe and delight. As there is a lesson in all things, in my sit spot, I contemplate ‘why the difference in my feelings?’

Maybe I wouldn’t feel such a loss if the fox, like most other predators, took only one duck to feed on and perhaps nourish its cubs, allowing the ducks time to replenish their numbers and thus restore the balance. But foxes typically get greedy; overcome by their excitement and often wipe out the whole lot in a wild frenzy. Living alongside farmers as countryside foxes often do, they only have to wait for us to replenish our stocks of ducks, chickens, geese or pheasants, which is usually much quicker than natural regeneration. This tactic earns them a poor reputation with country folk who like to have a few poultry. I have certainly had enough of this disappointment and guilt. I think this time I won’t be replacing the ducks.

As we are all part of the whole, I look inward and realise that as humans we too, in our greed and frenzy of excitement, take too much. Wiping out the very source of our nourishment: top soil, clean water, fish, minerals, precious metals, rainforest, to name a few. Maybe that is why the action of the fox is so galling to me: the realisation that as a species greed has caused a similar frenzy of destructive behaviour and we have relied upon mother nature to replenish our stocks. I believe she has reached the same conclusion as me: this time she isn’t going to be replacing anything, at least not without a change in behaviour from humans.

I recently came across Dr. Hew Len, who in the 1980’s, successfully cleared out a criminally insane ward using only Ho’oponopono, a Hawaiian healing method which uses mental cleansing through mental restitution and forgiveness. I have come across this technique many years ago and it was used most often to mediate unresolved disputes between families; healing could only come with complete forgiveness of the whole family. Using the four phases, said to the divine “I love you. I am sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you”. I thought I would spend some time finding my own inner fox, my inner greed and destructive power, for we all have this within us no matter what our personal choices are, for we are all part of the whole. So in the way of Ho’oponopono I shall bless and forgive this part of myself… “I love you… I am sorry… please forgive me… thank you.” Can I accept those parts of myself that I would rather pretend aren’t there to clear my own mental asylum? Can I get my own inner fox to take only what she needs? I think it will take some time to get there but then perhaps I can take a step towards restoring the balance naturally.

Read the very inspiring story about Dr. Hew Len at https://soultransync.com/dr-hew-len/