Once there was a little chipmunk. He was a very nervous chipmunk, and he was always worried about what was going to happen. Every day he would get up and scurry down the bark of his tree that he lived in, so he could collect enough nuts. Winter was coming, and he had to stash enough nuts inside his tree to last him through the whole winter. Because nuts don’t grow in winter, if he didn’t save enough nuts, he would die. He wasn’t old enough to have his own chipmunk family, but he was old enough to have to collect his own supply of nuts to carry himself through. Not yet a provider, but no being provided for. He lived in the neutral zone between receiving and giving.

He had just barely made it through last winter. He’d remembered how close he came. He had thought that he’d collected enough nuts to last him the winter, but as he kept waking up, to check his supply he continuously grew more and more worried that he wouldn’t have enough to last. His biggest fear was that he’d wake, and there wouldn’t be any nuts left, and he would starve. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the occasion to experience this, but when you wake and feel nothing but fear of lack and poverty, it’s hard to go back to sleep.

He wasn’t going to let that happen again. He was going to make sure that he prepared enough nuts for this winter. He used his fear from last winter to spur him on to make sure that he wouldn’t feel that horrible feeling of lack when he woke up in the black cold dead of winter. As he collected the nuts he began to rage at mother nature. Why did she come and destroy all the plants every winter? Was she doing this just to exert her power over the lowly creatures that inhabited the earth? Every time he imagined waking up, he was reminded of his terror from the previous year. And he grew angrier even still. Several chipmunks didn’t make it. Would he be one of them this year? Is why winter came ever year? Did nature revel in her ability to kill a select few every year? Was she angry at them? Did they fail her in some way? He continued to collect nuts, and raged at the heavens.

Finally the time came. He was proud. He was content. His supply of nuts were more than double than what they had been last year. He was sure that he’d have enough nuts to last him though the winter. He began to feel remorse for his anger at nature. Nevertheless, the time came, and he slept. Only this time, every time he awoke, he was comforted by his large supply of nuts. The storehouse in his tree that gave him such fear and despair last year only made him feel content with the abundance that he’d created. And during his long winter sleep, he had a wonderful dream. The goddess of nature came to him, and spoke:

Young chipmunk, you have done very well. You did not fall into the trap of your friends that didn’t make it through winters past. You were spurred to action by your fears, and not distress. Your fears are a gift from the heavens. Because you were able to listen to them, and heed their guidance, you were successful. Because you were able to use your fears to propel yourself forward, you now have a great stockpile of abundance that will be waiting for you when you awake this spring.

The chipmunk awoke in the spring, filled with abundance as the dream goddess had foretold. And as it happened, the chipmunk met a lady chipmunk and started a chipmunk family, to whom he could pass on his lessons to.

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