Dear Harry,
I had another chance to use the Compassion Exercise recently. In my garden there are many iguana’s. They love papaya leaves. I had two trees close to a concrete wall and the iguana’s could easily reach out for the leaves. They continued eating until the last of the leaves were gone. It hadn’t rained in a while so I felt compassion for the iguana’s.
When it started to rain I planted a new tree. I put a fence around it to keep the iguana’s away. I even bought an expensive spray called “Iguana Rid”. But probably the young papaya leaves were too good. The iguana’s climbed the fence and didn’t even notice the expensive spray.
I was very disappointed and found something to cover the top of the tree. The iguana found a way in and again ate all the leaves. I fixed the hole and hoped they would not find another way in. A few days later I saw an iguana going through a hole for the leaves. I felt my belief “Stay out of my territory or I will punish you” as absolutely true. My identity lowered on the scale and as the iguana walked away, I through a big brick at it. It hid under some grass and seemed to look at me begging for its life.
I felt very ashamed and went inside to work on the identity. The iguana walked away very slowly, but what I did to this creature stayed in my mind. I did the Compassion Exercise. I could feel lots of compassion and how this creature was just like me, trying to fulfill his/her needs in life.
Thank you!
Madzy Macolonie- Venezuela