Are you a Rabbit, an Owl, Tigger, or a Donkey? I’d rather be a Pooh

1. Are you a Rabbit, an Owl, Tigger, or a Donkey?I’d rather be a Pooh Jeanne Bowers, M.A.

2. Tao of Owl: The Scholar • Owl’s Attitude: Knowledge for the Sake of Appearing Wise” (pp. 15-16) • Accumulates “knowledge for the sake of Knowledge and who keeps what he learns to himself or to his own small group, writing pompous and pretentious papers that no one else can understand, rather than working for the enlightenment of others” (p. 26) • In the West, Owl represents the Brain, the Academician, the dry-as-dust Absentminded Professor (p. 25).

3. Owl’s Superiority? • Rather than learning from life, he learns from books. • Hard to “find spirit of Taoism in the lifeless writings of the humorless Academic Mortician,whose bleached-out Scholarly Dissertations contain no more of the character of Taoist wisdom than does the typical wax museum” (p. 26) • “ . . . and one sometimes gets the impression that those intimidating words are there to keep us from understanding. That way, the scholars can appear Superior, and will not likely be suspected of Not Knowing Something” (p. 28)

4. Knowledge and Experience or Knowledge VERSUS Experience? • Ever sure that you are right about something, even when there is evidence to the contrary? That is Owl. • What Owl does not understand is that Knowledge and Experience do not necessarily speak the same language, and there is value from the knowledge that comes from experience.

5. Dr. Owl, the Psychiatrist • I worked with a psychiatrist at Inner Harbour who was an Owl. • He talked way above the heads of the patients (and most of the staff). • His attempt to let everyone know how smart he was backfired. No one knew what the heck he was talking about. • And on top of that, patients and staff alike went away feeling demeaned instead of understood.

6. Rabbit, the Clever One (or is he?): • Rabbit is full of self-importance and is quite certain everyone wants to know what he thinks, after all, he’s always right. • If cleverness counted most, Rabbit would be number one (p. 14). • Rabbit’s life is made up of Important Things (p. 15). • “Rabbit has Brain” (p. 15), which is why, according to Pooh, Rabbit never understands anything. • Rabbit’s attitude: Knowledge for the sake of Being Clever” (p. 15)

7. Clever or Blind? • Cleverness is shortsighted – it does not take the Inner Nature (a/k/a “Things Are As They Are”) into account. • If you are a Rabbit, be careful you don’t outsmart yourself and lose sight of where you belong. • “Cleverness, as usual, takes all the credit it possibly can. But it’s not the Clever Mind that’s responsible when things work out. It’s the mind that sees what’s in front of it, and follows the nature of things” (p. 75). • Rabbit needs to learn about wu wei, instead of trying to be clever.

8. Do you know any Rabbits? • Rabbits are always on their way to do something important. • They are so busy being busy knowing what to do and how to do it and telling everyone how to do what they need to do that they lose sight of what matters most. • Rabbit isn’t very good at empathy.

9. Eeyore, the Anti-Manifester“Woe is Me” • Eeyore is stubborn and abrasive (p. 15) • Eeyore’s Attitude: “Knowledge for the sake of Complaining About Something” (p. 16). • Do you know anyone named Eeyore? Grumpy, whiny, stuck, obstinate, negative, and sure that nothing can work out ever? • The answer to every question for Eeyore begins with “No,” or “Yes, but ….” • Eeyore people focus on problems instead of solutions.

10. Tiggers can do EVERYTHING! • Tigger doesn’t know his own limitations, he thinks Tiggers can do everything (p. 44). • “One disease, long life; no disease, short life.” One who is aware of what is wrong with them takes care to mind it; those who are oblivious neglect their weaknesses (p. 48). • “Once you face and understand your weaknesses, you can work with them instead of having them work against you” (pp. 48-49). • Lesson from Tigger? It’s OK to Bounce, especially if it is your Tao. Just be mindful how your bouncing affects those around you.

11. Tigger people • Tigger people bounce here and there and everywhere. • Tiggers are impulsive. They don’t mindfully live for the moment, they just live for the moment without thinking about it. • Ever heard the phrase “jack of all trades, but master of none?” • Tigger people burn jing at a rapid rate, they have no barometer for when they are using themselves up.

12. Jeanne the Tigger • Answering phones while typing chart notes, writing down inventory, thinking about 1,000 different things at a time. • How many jobs can someone do in one day? • Waking up in the middle of the night wondering what I forgot because I tried to do too much during the day.

13. Jeanne the Pooh • This Tigger is slowing down. I spend less time cleaning up my mistakes and more time being productive that way. • Spending more time listening mindfully in the moment. • This Tigger is retiring from Tiggerdom so that I can live longer and more productively.