The Playing Panda life

Somedays, all we want to do is shout and scream and throw our toys out of the cot, but in most instances, this temper tantrum situation does not always produce the desired effect.

My Husband, bless his beautiful soul, usually just either keeps quiet, thus actually creating the ‘kicking of an angry bear’ effect, or he would try and reason with me, which quite frankly is exactly what I wanted. “Ahhh… here’s the fight now. IT’s ON!”

Shame poor man.

These days I receive the silent treatment, because he never really wins any argument with me. I used to continue with the argument and the minute I felt like I was losing, I would get nasty sometimes. So now he just waits till I have calmed down and am able to talk about our issue reasonably, mostly.

Clever man!

So, where does this story come from you might ask? Well, it started a few years ago when my doting fiancé bought me a Harley Davidson Motorcycle as a wedding present. It was rather large for someone who had only driven a little scooter in her life before, and on a lovely summer New Year's morning, I asked him to take me to the local supermarket parking grounds to learn how to ride this particular beast.

The excursion ended up, much to my dismay, as an epic failure. There is a reason why they say in the biking community ATGAT (All the gear all the time.) Let’s just say that I ended up with a rather nasty burn on my leg and a few scrapes and bruises. I sent a photo of my burnt leg and the place on the exhaust where my naked skin had left its mark, to my best friend. She rather quickly replied, “It looks like a panda face on the exhaust!”

See!!!!!!

This sparked my interest in pandas and how they live and love.

Also, recently I had the misfortune of witnessing a child being run over by a car. This shook me to the core and have had to do some really deep digging into my life and how I live it.  Taking me back to the panda and thinking about life, love, and happiness.

The black-and-white thinking in life.

I teach English for a living, and I always tell my students that a sentence without adjectives and adverbs is like looking at a new coloring-in book. No colors. Without the needed adjectives and adverbs, our sentences are very boring and not much fun. And the more we add the more colorful and exciting it becomes.

Let’s face it. Black and white is mundane and deciding to live it like that could also possibly create many a ruction. Always being right or wrong. Here, though, the thing to remember is that everything you deem to be right or wrong is actually only your perspective.

This I learned the hard way when I got married. My Mr. Right avoids conflict like the plague and I, poor bloke, do not.

Living for so many years as a black-and-white thinker I did not have a good self-image as I mostly saw thin or fat, ugly or pretty, love or hate, never really thinking about the saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Me being on the heftier side, only saw the bad about myself. Thus, creating a very bad image of myself and when looking in the mirror always moaning with disgust.

Well, this beautiful guy happened to be my Red Panda counterpart to my Giant Panda Black and white.

Quite frankly, I never even knew that there were such animals as Red Pandas in this world. He brought color to my life and while struggling through the battle of wills in the beginning of our relationship, he started coloring in my regular day-to-day boring life.

I might have been the Giant Panda with my black and white, but I was much smaller in personality. He, on the other hand being the smaller Red Panda, surely had the giant personality. Not quite sure if it works that way in the animal kingdom, however, it sure is that way with us.

Rare breed

Marriages these days are becoming easier to just throw in the towel and say It’s over. Easy outs. Lifelong partnerships are becoming more and more endangered as, this big nasty world that we live in, and the pressures of the way of living today is chipping away at our natural habitat of peace and happiness.

Everyone loves getting married and the fabulous day that is dedicated to you and your spouse. But sometimes we, the make-believe person, we as individuals like to portray ourselves as. Especially in the beginning. The living together, is where the true person resides especially after a few years, as one cannot hide behind the mask forever and your colors show.

Another fun fact is that pandas do not have thumbs! They have developed a pretend thumb, which are actually wrist bones that are elongated to get a better their grip of their food when eating.

Mmm…. Well maybe in marriage we can also change ourselves a little. By this I mean men and women. Transforming ourselves to be able to accommodate each other, thus bettering our partnership. I believe that this is the best thing for any connection even outside of a loving relationship.

Hibernating problems

Quite frankly, sometimes I feel like the ostrich has a really good point of sticking his head in the sand when problems arise. But how long can you actually breathe down there before having to come up for air eventually?

As per our reliable internet, the next fact is that Pandas do not hibernate at all they face the winter cold every year.

Personally, I would think that they would cuddle up together to keep warm, but this is not always the case and yet somehow, when the spring breaks at the end of every winter, each individual is still alive and eating. Subsequently, when the summer arrives life just goes on as per normal.

I see problems in the same light. My motto in life is quite harsh yet, if you think about it honestly and looking back on your own life you will find it true. Ask yourself the question, “But did you die?” No matter how bad your situation is, the fact that you are still living is the most important part. The hardship or problem that you are facing, you just have to take one step at a time. Whether you have someone to help you through or not.

My friend always jokes and asks, “How do you eat an elephant? … One bite at a time!”

Remind yourself that you are still alive (even when you feel that you would rather not be) and there must be some way to resolve it or at least ride it out till the end. Face your punishment, if there is any, and use it as a life lesson.

Hibernation, or sticking your head in the sand does not help in any situation.

­Pandas eat between 10-16 hours a day.

Do you know the saying; eat and be merry? Well, I think the pandas have perfected that completely. However pandas have the bodily functions to be carnivores, they prefer to rather eat bamboo with the occasional small animal if they really have to.

It is up to us to find our own purpose and happiness in life. This means that we are responsible for finding our happy pozzy. Humanity makes us change our food sources and, in this way, makes us change our purpose and happiness in life.

The Key ingredient is that you must make sure that you are always happy and fulfilled. Relying on others to give us that contentment is never a stable basis to build your life on.

Like that panda we are often forced to do something that we do not want to do or that we do not particularly like. Unfortunately, these are the things that we must do to be able to survive. (like eating the occasional small animal)

And again, do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life. I worked long and not-as-satisfying hours every day until I found my purpose and happiness with my students and helping my husband grow his business. Now it feels like I am on constant holiday.

"You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try.": Dolly Parton

Uniqueness

Dolly Parton once said: “Find out who you are. And do it on purpose.” Now I think that the pandas have taken being unique to the next level. Sometimes they do a handstand when they wee to be able to mark their territory. By doing it this way they are able to make their scent markings higher up.

I have the same quote tattooed on my arm by dear old Dolly. My reminder every day that I should not be ashamed of the things I do or say. (Be careful with this one though as you must always check your words and deeds before you do them so that nobody else can be hurt in the process.)

Why apologize for the person you are as long as you are not hurting other people and be true to yourself.

I was always worried about what people would say about me and what they would think. But my recent journey that I have taken has tough me, bugger that. I am who I am and the person who does not like me because of that is probably not the person I need or want in my life.

Be brave and try new things. If you like it continue and if you don’t move on to the next new challenge.

Also harping on the past and living with regret or anger is not going to do you any good either.

When I left my ex, I was angry with him for many years until I realized, that I was the only one harboring resentment and souring my own life, while he had already forgotten about the issues and moved on. My fault entirely, for living an unhappy life.

Now I do not recommend going around weeing on trees while doing a handstand but discover your uniqueness and hold on to that, because the right people will eventually come around and love it so much, that they will stay forever.

Pandas poop more than 40 times a day

This fact makes me giggle, as I think that they are never full of ……  And hopefully, they do not do it while they are doing a handstand as that could get incredibly messy.

Once again back to the lesson of my ex. Ridding yourself of harbored feelings of hate and resentment lightens your load to a happy and freeing life. Also getting rid of the poop in one’s life, like poopy friends and distancing yourself from not-so-nice family, could brighten your life considerably too.

Take each feeling, friend, family member or whatever it may be, hold it close to your heart, and think about it for a moment. If it brings you joy hold on to it. If it doesn’t then get rid of it.

Think of your life like a scale. On the one side, you have the happiness that you put into it and on the other side, you put your problems. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your scales tipped in the happy favor?

Pandas can swim and climb

Pandas can do many things, but they choose to sit and eat most of the day, because they choose to eat bamboo rather than eating more meat. Because of this, they are forced to actually eat much more bamboo. But this does not bother them.

Like I have mentioned before, try everything once and if you like it continue but if you don’t then you can lump it and leave it right there and try something new.

Now because pandas tend to spend much of their day on their derrieres, getting up and moving could prove to be quite a feat. So instead, they just decide, that the easiest way to do this is to roll. Especially down a hill.

Now we as humans should not spend our lives on our buttocks and we should get out there and conquer the world. However, who is to say we cannot do it in our own way.

Forging our path in the world is not always easy, but when you think about the ways you can do it choose the exciting one, even if that means rolling down a hill.

Pandas enjoy rolling and again as I have said before, do what you love every day.

Don’t worry about failure, as each one is a life lesson, and one learns from each one every time.

Society is an unforgiving species that gets one all tangled together with feelings and hate and remorse and this is something that being unique and loving oneself can get you untangled with.

Don’t get me wrong, I am human, and I still fall prey to some of the societal pitfalls, but these are just some of the lessons that I have learned in life that I have now given my five cents on.