I have a meditation group on WhatsApp, where I share daily meditations and insights. Every day, I go outside to meditate with the group and one day I noticed a little lizard sneak out of a branch in a tree where I meditate.

The first time I saw him, I noticed he had his tail bitten off. All that was left of his tail was a tiny stub at the end of his body. I felt bad for this little guy. I saw him lick, what was a fresh wound. After having my tail bitten off, I’d be a little more hesitant at anything that moved, but not this little guy – he was curious – and stayed with me while I meditated. 

The next day, there he was again! He came out as soon as I arrived and sat with me while I meditated with the group. He hasn’t failed to show up a day since. I was so surprised and delighted at the sight of him every day. 

Now, there’s one thing I know about lizards – they can regrow their tails even though it might take some time. He had resilience! Here’s a little dude that had been through an ordeal. He was probably chewed up and spat out by some curious feline and escaped with his life intact! Not only that, it’s happened fairly recently and despite his ordeal he wasn’t afraid of large predatory mammals – unaffected and possibly even curious about my presence. He showed up every day despite his ordeal. From me, he gets 5 stars for being so courageous.

I learnt so much from this lizard. We all go through things that sometimes that are devastating, things that completely throw us off our center and shake us to our core. Sometimes we barely escape with our lives. What makes us resilient isn’t perfection. We don’t always have a glow-up, sometimes come back from it having a lot less to work with, but in our moments of challenge, choice is revealed to us – the choice to find our inner Moxy, the choice to tap into our inner fight. It’s doesn’t look loud necessarily, its not dressed up extravagantly, it’s hardly boastful. 

It’s is a quiet inner rebellion, a flame that refuses to be put out, a desire to move with all the limitations and pain and to see what comes through despite it all. I call this place curiosity. It’s the space beyond the suffering of our afflictions. Our lizard could have rolled over and said ‘That’s it! I’m done now.’ He could have rolled over given up or he could have had a massive hang up about the fact that he no longer has a tail but he didn’t. 

When life seems impossible can you find choice inside of you? Can you choose your attitude, your demeanor and your response despite what has taken place? I’m not saying it’s easy to – in fact I’m saying the very opposite of that – it’s an incredibly difficult thing to do! Why? Why is it so hard? Well, you have to get beyond yourself, you have to get beyond your situation and find the part of you that is infinite. How do you do that? By surrendering all the parts of you that think you’re not! 

Your true power is in letting go of how you think it should be. When you let that story go, you allow everything that is infinite to be born. Nature knows this and we are all in a deep process reconnecting to it’s wisdom and the wisdom of our own deeper knowing. 

I wish you the courage and resilience of a lizard who has just had its tail bitten off!

In love and gratitude,