Wake Up and Grab the Peanut

From the Shining Tribe Tarot, Awakening (Judgment); from the Animal Tiles, Woodpecker:

          Roshi Melissa Blacker described a riverboat trip in Costa Rican rainforest during which the tour guide stopped the boat and had them gaze at a large tree while being still and breathing deeply. After a few minutes, he said "Let me know when you see the iguana." Sure enough, as each passenger became relaxed, they were suddenly able to see the camouflaged lizard. This is what awakening is like - to encounter reality just as it is without preconception. When we drop our bias and assumptions, our hearts and minds open much wider. Our perspective completely changes.
          I've been putting raw peanuts mixed in with sunflower seeds in my feeders this year, mainly to attract several varieties of woodpeckers. But because these birds are built to grip tree bark so they can drill for insects, they don't have the ability to perch like songbirds. They first hang upside down from the feeder's ledge then sort of flop themselves ungracefully over and upright. Their babies first spend a lot of time just hanging on that ledge, unable to figure out how the parent gets to the food. Eventually through the effort of trial and error, they too figure out how to get to the peanuts. Like the woodpeckers, awakening to raw reality generally means I need to readjust my attitude and actions. Otherwise I'll keep hanging upside down, trying to convince myself (even though I've seen differently) that life is unfair.