Hi Anita,

I was very intrigued by your observations of the herd of elks and your thoughts about safer but there is no such thing as being entirely safe. It was something new to think about the fact that there is no real safety and I think it is important to me to remember that too, lest I get lured into the false sense of safety here and let my guard down. Especially, given that like how you put it, I am recalibrating myself and finding a new measurement of safety.

And I think that helps me to think about safety in a new way.. it is not that I was entirely safe back home too. there were different dangers.. different dangers in different ways.

And the elks you observed had a herd, and the ones in the middle could safely graze and feed.. whereas now, I am a lone elk and I have to be watchful for myself. It is interesting how they ran away, even though you pose no real danger to them. I have this vision of myself as a tiny elk back home, with my father elk being huge and so dominant. And the danger I am always watchful for is him. Perhaps with other dangers around too, but the main danger was my father elk.

Now, I am a free elk and running around in this new world. I have to learn new things and learn new ways of being safe. And I like this perspective on safety.. it gives me the sense that there are things to discover.. there are things to work on.. i have many more things to find out for myself.. i am on my way to becoming my own elk! And that is pretty exciting, albeit scary at the same time.

Yes, I will use this trip to “Know it on a deeper level, look around in a different way, consider what you didn’t consider before.”

🙂

Thank you Anita as always 😉

not-so-lost-star or should i say elk :p