Well those fiesty little squirrels are at it again! Reminding me that I’m not quite small enough, flexible enough, or just plain fearless enough to run up and down those trees, leaping from one to the other, almost dancing rhythmically with one another. Jumping, leaping, dancing, taunting!
I am not a squirrel, I will never be a squirrel… but I might be a zombie! With all the crazy views on spirituality, the afterlife etc, who know, maybe one day I really will be a zombie! For now I can simply relate to that braindead feeling once in awhile, and share my amusement at how the first thing I noticed about this ID chart was the word “WALKER” in the middle of it… Hey that’s me! Wednesday Walker! Wait a second… hahaha, maybe there was some other reason I picked this nom… hmmmm….
Do you ever think you might fit somewhere on this ID chart? What do you do to reignite your brain and bring a sense of life back? As for me… well, I’m goin for a walk. Catch you later!
As I was web walking lately I just so happened to stumble across a post about squirrels! Prior to this I have 1 other post categorized as “Squirrels” and did it just to make myself do a lil LOL really… “Who categorizes a blog post as squirrels anyways? haha, wonder if it’ll get any clicks… what a squirrely idea…” And now after this lil gem, I think there may have been a purpose to that category afterall… Watch out – I may very well just start going squirrely more often in this blog!
In case you are wondering where this lil treasure came from, the title and pic hyperlink to the source for easy reference.
One of the most common animals in my area of the country seem to be gray squirrels. I realized years ago that squirrels are something I have taken for granted as they were so plentiful. I decided to sit down and watch them. I started learning things from them and saw how squirrels can be such a powerful animal spirit totem. The gray squirrels are the city and town dwellers. Gray squirrels do not hibernate. They build nests that are round with side entrances. Even though they are the biggest squirrel, they are also the most cowardly. If confronted, they will more than likely try to run away. Gray squirrels have two litters a year on average. The babies are self-sufficient after twelve weeks. Red squirrels are found more in forests and woods. Red squirrels are the guards of those woods and forests. If there is a stranger or danger afoot, the squirrels chatter loudly to sound an alarm. That alarm spreads quickly through the forest thanks to the squirrels. They also have two litters a year and are also self-sufficient after twelve weeks. We rarely see the lesser known black squirrel. The black squirrel is known for its aggressiveness. We also all know the flying squirrel, who isn’t really flying but stretching its skin and gliding on air. The gray, red and black squirrels run around in the day, whereas the flying squirrel is nocturnal.
All squirrels are playful. They wrestle and chase each other just for fun. They are also master imitators. That is how squirrels learn. They learn by observing and imitating what they see. If you have a squirrel as your animal spirit totem, you learn better by doing a task than by studying and reading books about it. Squirrels are fabulous communicators. If you listen to them, you can hear a large variety of sounds. Their bushy tails also help them get their point across. When they are on the defense, their tails get very bushy. Their tails also provide shade, heat and balance. Much like a cat, a squirrel will express emotions through its tail movements.
The one main thing that most people know about squirrels is that they stockpile nuts for the winter. Part of what makes that possible is their acute sense of smell. A lesser known trait of squirrels are that they have mastered the balance between work and play. Squirrels, as animal spirit totems, can teach us all about preparedness and working and playing in equal parts. One of the most valuable lessons for me personally is how they teach us not to get too hung up on accumulating. We also have to see the value in giving and sharing with our communities. They also are quite good at storing up energy in times of rest and non-movement. They also can switch directions on a dime. That is a valuable lesson for us to learn. When you notice a squirrel around you, stop and ask yourself some of the following questions:
Are you over active?
Are you under active?
Are you worried about lack and not having enough?
Does that fear turn into the fear that you are never going to have enough?
Do you need to learn to save and properly expend money, energy or time?
Are you spending too much time focused on collection and accumulation?
Are you not sharing what you have received?
How many of these traits of squirrel animal spirit totem apply to you? Enjoy squirrel spotting and learning the lessons that squirrel has to teach you.
I never stopped to think about the various kinds of squirrels… interesting tidbits… Did you learn something new about squirrels today?
Walking today there was a distinct quietness… alone-ness… calm… As the squirrels run, chase and jump between trees, bushes, snow and one another, it got me thinking about all our connection points and our own evolving forms of communication with one another…
“Are getting it? Really getting it? Come on give it to me! Get signed up on linkedin! Give me all of your tweets! Come on baby be friends! Never want it to stop! Oh! Are you getting it? Social media! Really getting it? Social Media! Come on Joey! Uh!”
Maybe not the next American Idols, but a nice short intro to the myriad of social media. I think that diagram at the end of the song says a lot!
Just tipping the iceberg of social media sites with this full diagram, it can be a stormy sea of social media. Since emails came along in 1966 (did you know they have actually existed that long?!) the communication scene continues evolving. Ed Kang says it well with: “anybody tells you that they’ve figured it all out is lying, selling you something, or a combination of both.”
Facebook touts 800million users so that’s where it’s at right?
One user noted that their video store disconnected their phone line as they take facebook DVD reservations… (watch out they probably won’t even be around with more ubiquitous sites such as netflix) Other users commonly note: “Got really irritated by all the posts that were meaningless chatter.” So maybe those millions of users aren’t too sure how to appropriately use each channel of communication… “would you get in your car and go around to someone’s house to tell them that?” Can be a good reality check question for users… I like to think of it as an online billboard, notorious for privacy breaches… so would you be okay posting your message on a busy highway billboard? Or downtown? If not, then why would you post your message on your computer screen that could potentially reach out globally?… Retweets, reposts and copy/paste are some pretty basic tools for average social media users…
Twitter may be nearing 1/4th the number of users as facebook, although it can be just as addicting for tweeters. Focused on short 140 character messages it can be fun to chirp away like Demi Moore or Lady Gaga.
With more people carrying smartphones and data plans there seems to be a push of personal messaging boundaries… with a facebook user noting exasperation at “Having people post messages to me at any time, expecting an instant response”. (I agree! When did we become pavlovs dogs?)
My fave facebook user comment on the platform I just had to share:
” I absolutely hate how intrusive it is. I hate the stupid little ditties that people put on thinking they are so interesting when they really are not. I hate that I feel a need to even read the stupid little ditties!!!! I do, however, love getting to see my nieces pregnancy belly growing as she is too far for me to see it in real life. I love that the girl who was my best friend, when I lived in a different city, traced me on it and we are now back in regular communication. I love that I can keep up with those family members in other continents, and at the other end of this country, and not just talk at funerals!!! Very undecided!!!!”
Google+ appears to be the latest fad in social media. With only 40 million users thus far, it is definitely a quieter, less frequented communication space. Which may very well be a good thing! Personally I enjoy the circles and “follow” method rather than “friending” as on facebook… Just be sure to sort your people into your appropriate circles up front! Think of your purpose and what kinds of segments of society you want to interact with… Not only do you have friends, family, acquaintances, coworkers, you may have your own blogging friends circle, or book club. Super great being able to easily post to your profile (equivalent of your own facebook wall) and easily specify who sees it… Not to mention if you want to close your profile, you can download all your google+ related info to your own computer prior to closing your account. Use-ability, generally love it, still learning the appropriateness, and kudos for google demonstrating better boundaries!
If you are interested in spreading your online presence with a google+ profile, or business page, what better time to get in and figure things out before all 800million facebook users jump on board? 😉 Today I discovered a succinct online article on google+ pages that may be worth a perusal…
As my first official blog kicked off somewhat recently (as you may well have noticed), I often pondered why Blog? With google+, facebook walls and notes, windows live, myspace, personal emails, texting, blackberry messenger, etc, and even phone calls, who would have time for a blog and why would you invest in creating one? Well, don’t knock it till you try it “they” say… so here I am pulling back a little from some other inundated forms of communication to give this medium a try… According to a recent online article, blogging is here to stay! Are you?
What is your preferred form of communication lately? Do you maintain a blog? How do you maintain your sanity in the sea of social media? Where do you get your info on current events?
Wednesday Walk 
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