Acceptance and the Thanksgiving Goat

With the popularity of the Law of Attraction, many of us are confused about how to deal with aspects of our lives that persist, despite our best efforts. Do we accept what is? Do we deny what is? In trying to change what is, are we putting our attention on what we don’t want, thus creating more of what we don’t want? Do we try to free the thoughts from our subconscious minds and approach the uncompromising in that way? However, do we continue to focus our attention on what we really want?

These questions remind me of something that happened in my life a few days before Thanksgiving last year. It was night and I was going to karate class with my children. As I was backing out of the driveway, I noticed in my rear view mirror, a LARGE black goat right behind me. I was worried about the safety of the goat, because it was getting dark, and she, being black, was very difficult to see. I know very little about goat fighting, and despite living on a horse estate, I consider myself to be something of an Ava Gabor “Lisa Douglas” type character from Green Acres.

I got down and lo and behold a good samaritan woman and her daughter driving down the street came to the rescue. They helped me pull the goat in my backyard (no small feat!). I headed down the street and told my popular neighbor Teia about the goat. She promised to spread the word about her and I assumed the goat would be claimed by the time we got back. My kids were disappointed that the goat wasn’t there when we got back. However, she was there when we got back; no one had claimed it.

Two days and a lot of goat poop in the yard later, the goat was still with us. Despite the novelty of having her, it was becoming a lot of work for me. He was anxious to return her to her house. We made phone calls and posted notes, but no one called. She didn’t seem too happy to be with us either. She madly head-butted the children and the dog and she slammed the glass window doors so hard at night that she was afraid she would break them. She even managed to find her way to the pool’s safety cover and moved like jelly as she walked on it. Poor thing! It was as if she had found her way to an alternate and highly unpleasant universe. Clearly she was missing her home.

Despite the challenges of child and dog safety and stinky goat poop, of course I began to think about the concept of acceptance. I began to see this goat as a metaphor for some things in my life that did not change, despite fervent efforts. I recently heard a healer tell a woman, who despite diligent metaphysical practices was still legally blind, that her gift was her sight because she was not restricted by her physical eyes. Sometimes, we can’t see that our challenges are our greatest gifts. Consequently, I began to think about keeping the goat. And besides, who am I to argue with a goat?

Should we continue to focus on what we want? Of course! But if what we resist persists, we can create more of what we don’t want. What we think expands. And maybe, just maybe, this thing we don’t really want is a gift. My kids loved sharing at church that what they were most thankful for that Thanksgiving was the goat they found. Both children and adults laughed as they had never heard of such a thing! Who finds a goat walking down the street?

As soon as I accepted the goat as part of the family, she left us. It turned out that the owner had been on vacation and his goat had run away. He was never really nice to me before, but now he was in his good graces because he had saved and cared for his beloved goat. Perhaps the most powerful part of the lesson for me was that as soon as I found acceptance, the owner of the goat was found. He no longer paid attention to how it should be. He had come to accept what he was.

Sometimes it can be better to love what is! I invite you to connect with your own truth about this and see what your responses are.