An explorer walks a path in the jungle.
A tiger follows.
She walks faster.
The tiger gains.
She runs.
The path ends at a sheer cliff.
The bridge is out.
The tiger is close.
A hundred feet below a river rages.
There’s no jumping.
She climbs down a vine growing from the cliff’s edge.
A mouse appears.
It gnaws at the vine.
The vine frays.
The explorer spots a plant clinging to the cliff face.
There’s one ripe strawberry.
She picks it.
She eats it.
And, it’s a damn good strawberry.
___
*Thanks so much to Sylvia Boorstein (Author, Psychotherapist, and Buddhist Teacher) for this story that I’ve adapted from her telling on a recent 10% Happier with Dan Harris podcast.