Eat the Strawberry

My birthday last week put me in a reflective mood. I revisited a Zen koan my college philosophy professor posed to our class. When he shared this parable from the Buddha, none of us knew what the heck he was talking about.

"Once upon a time, a man was walking through a forest.

He saw a tiger stalking him in the underbrush and starting running for his life.

He came to a precipice, caught hold of a vine and swung himself out over the edge of the cliff.

Clinging to the vine, with the tiger growling at him from above, the man looked down, only to discover?another?tiger pacing below, waiting for him to fall.

Just then, two mice, one white, one black, appeared and started gnawing at the vine.

In that moment, the man noticed a strawberry growing from the side of the cliff.

He plucked it and popped it into his mouth.

How sweet it tasted!"

What?!

At the time, it made no sense.

We thought, "This guy's going to DIE and he's eating a strawberry?!"

I have some miles under my belt now, a bit more perspective about the vicissitudes of life, and I've come to a conclusion about what this parable means to me.

I’m not saying this is right or wrong.

I’m just saying this is how I choose to interpret it,

They are tigers above us, tigers below us, and mice are gnawing on the vine.

We can focus on that, be terrified by that, gnash our teeth about that.

Or we can notice the strawberries just waiting for us to see them, savor them, steep ourselves in their deliciousness.

What does this mean in a work context?

To me it means, in the midst of everything going on, we can choose to eat the strawberry and be the strawberry.

Maybe, in the midst of the COVID chaos, we choose to look around and notice a coworker we've worked with for years, who's doing the best they can, and we sit down, look them in the eye, say a heartfelt "thank you," and tell them why we're grateful they're on our team.

Maybe, in the midst of yet another online meeting, instead of complaining about zoom fatigue, we take a big deep breath and send up thanks we're alive, healthy, and breathing.

Maybe, instead of reacting to the anger and fear around us, we choose to be the strawberry and show up with kindness and compassion - even when other people aren't.

We are all falling towards our mortality. Meanwhile, there are strawberries.

What say you?