The Notebook 6: An Elephant Never Forgets

Welcome to the Notebook series.  These are stories from my time abroad, each connected to one main take-away that I learned during those years.

Read the preceding Notebook posts here: INTRO // 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

This post contains the story for the insight: "Everything and everyone are connected in more ways than we can possibly understand," titled, "An Elephant Never Forgets."

Reading time: 4 minutes

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AN ELEPHANT NEVER FORGETS

"Everything and everyone are connected in more ways than we can possibly understand"

The crux of my worldview is interconnectedness between everything and everyone.  Earth, plants, minds, humans, other animals; everything is woven into an incredibly intricate web with connections all across, such that not a single thing is independent or isolated.  And so many of these connections are beyond what we notice or perceive.  I'll draw an example from a beautiful experience I had in Thailand.

I was so privileged to visit an ethical eco-sanctuary for elephants in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.  The incredible beings here inspired me so deeply.  As did the connections among them.

Many of the elephants came from pasts of abuse, rescued from the logging industry.  One elephant in particular had a rough circumstance; she was worked so hard in logging, and slingshot injuries from owners trying to make her work faster had left her blind.  She was 55 years old when I met her.  She was rescued by the sanctuary and began a new, beautiful life there.  The saying "an elephant never forgets" comes into play in this story.  Jo Kia, the blind elephant, had a best friend of the same age, also in the logging industry.  One day, the sanctuary had made enough money to rescue that best friend elephant, not knowing Jo Kia even knew her... and their reunion was an emotional one for everyone.  It was clear that they knew and loved each other.  From that day, the two best friends were inseparable.  My tour guide said, "Jo Kia's best friend is her eyes for her."  Together they look after a 3 year-old baby.  Their bond and deep connection never faded.

In another sense of the idea of connection, I'll speak to the phenomena I saw in the village over and over.  We grew our food in our backyard.  Our house is made from the soil around the yard mixed with the dung from our own buffalo, and our roof is made from straw/bamboo from the field.  The field is fertilized from the buffalo dung.  The buffalo eat nearby grass and fertilize that, too.  We eat the vegetables and plant more.  Our roof is the home of who-knows-how-many birds, bats, mice, spiders, and lizards, who eat the smaller insects in our house.  Nothing is isolated.  Everything is so connected in so many ways.  Like best friend elephants, like inter-species dependences, and like the circle of life.

Everything and everyone is one.

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Jo Kia and her best friend.

The baby they look after, who wanted to share his snacks with me.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

✅ 1. J hunchha ramro ko lagi hunchha (All that will be, will be for good)

✅ 2. Nothing is in our control except for how we respond

✅ 3. Plans are illusory - and can cloud your vision

✅ 4. The present moment is the only reality

✅ 5. Our minds create our lives

✅ 6. Everything and everyone are connected in more ways than we can ever understand

7. Compassion is the key to happiness

8. If we were in other people's shoes, we would be doing exactly what they are, because then we would be them

9. Everyone and everything are impermanent

10. True joy comes from inner wisdom, not from following what you think others want you to do

11. Whatever we go through is not personal, not permanent, and has good in it

12. Enjoy the present.  It is all that we have.

Read all published posts from the Notebook Series here.

Stay tuned for the stories that accompany each of these in the coming weeks.

So much love, from home.

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