Buffaloes Don’t Play Around.
Buffaloes are known for instinctively walking into snowstorms. If they are caught in a sudden storm – they somehow know that they are not fast enough to outrun it. The logical and safest choice is to face the storm and push through. If they try to run away they will get hammered by weather for days. Many would freeze to death.
Believe it or not, this is cliche advice. This fun factoid has been told by many self-development cheeseballs before myself. BUT..
There are differences in their interpretations (dumb) versus mine (smart). To most, the buffaloes’s behavior means you should go after your problems with intensity. Like a coked-up viking warlord avenging his fallen brother. I have the opposite mindset.
Here’s my view on what buffaloes walking into storms really means.
Don’t Fight Your Painful Situations. Try Your Best To Avoid The Battle Mindset. Instead, Simply CHOOSE TO SURRENDER..
I know it feels good to imagine yourself fighting against pain and negative emotions. I’ll admit – when I first started turning my life around that was my attitude. A warrior for positive change. I gritted my teeth, I woke up at 7:00AM (hey, it’s early for me) blaring the Rocky soundtrack – ready to kick ass baby! I was going to show the world once and for all what I was made of. Oh how they’d underestimated me..
Do you see the problem in this yet? It’s all based in anger, and desire. Desire for revenge, vindication, “glory.” You’re actively hating your present and living out of the moment completely. Yes I know you deserve better. You’re pissed off and ready to kick this problem’s ass. I’ve been there. But you will run yourself down. I promise you, and it will suck.
You have to live in your own skin. You’re pretty well stuck in it. Things don’t change so fast, brothers and sisters. It will take patience, and you will go through periods when you are low on hope. You must continue to surrender to your current situation and let it carry you where it may. Do what you must to get through, while remaining observant, calm and present. Be ready to learn some epic lessons.
Once again, fighting the storm, like fighting your pain, is conflict. Plain and simple. It’s violence. Both against the world and yourself. The warrior attitude exhausted me. I nearly gave up because of how hard I was fighting to change things. I was exercising my control and willpower, using force and anger.
This isn’t ideal. It can work for some time, hell yes. So if you need this mindset to get your ass out of the bed then do it. If you need it to get started, then okay. But move on quickly. Read this and believe it – surrender is much stronger than control.
You’re not going to stop the storm. So what are you fighting for anyway?
When you enter the storm, which is the smart decision, don’t fight. Try your best to not get angry. Instead simply allow the storm to be. With anger and conflict you block your ability to think. Your logical brain will be consumed instead by effort, conflict, struggle and thoughts about your ongoing “battle.”
The storm will rage on whether you’re angry or not. The storm isn’t going to be scared of you. You’re only making yourself tired. And you look stupid, too. Trying to fight the weather. (Your surrounding world). Pointless, right?
So be like the buffalo and walk purposefully into the storm. Don’t run into the storm screaming with a shield over your face. Simply accept the storm and walk in. Prepare for nasty weather. Prepare to get pelted. Most of all, prepare to observe, listen and learn.
Lean forward into the storms of your life. Dip your head and move through them at sustainable pace. And accept that you can’t change the weather, no matter how angry you get or how hard you grit your teeth. Best to surrender, take care of yourself, and come out the other side a better person.