"Wow. That’s a lot of geese," my friend said looking at the design for my website. It wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for. I thought she might laugh or at least exclaim "Hey! Cool!" But she was right. She was indeed, looking at a lot of geese. It was the type of reaction you give when someone you love shows up wearing something heinous. While fighting laughter and your upchuck reflex, you look for something non-inflammatory to say like, “Oh! Shoulder pads!” I get it. Who wants to look at a goose with its mouth open and something stuck in its tiny pointy teeth? Gross. How about giggling babies? Or models in white robes meditating? Hell, I should at least trade the goose for a swan! They are white and majestic and our first thought is not how disgusting it is to step in their poop. This natural irritation is exactly why I chose Geese as my therapeutic mascot. In some ways they are not that different then us. They shit and eat. They strategize how to cross the street in heavy traffic. And then they spread their non dramatic wings and soar like angels through an ever changing sky. The difference between them and us, is that they are completely unabashed about their range. They are the bodhisattvas of our lawn. Now I am flying. Now I am shitting. Now I am eating right by where I just shat. At no point do they feel shame about any of it. Let's be honest. We will never JUST be the light. (If you feel that you are just the light, then you have left your dark in someone else's lap. Go get it.) However, the only things that control us are the things we are hiding from. The dark is there to give birth to the light. And the light will give birth to more dark. And it goes round and round until you are ready to barf or laugh from the whole yin yang of it all. I say, instead of condemning ourselves, let's celebrate the mud and the lotus! ( After all they are two parts of the same thing.) In fact let's get messy in the mud and explore it like children... with curiosity and joy! Let's get real about being the spectrum of color in between black and white.Hallelujah! And then let's paint the unique canvas of our life with relish. more about Isis