12 May A Sheep in Need of a Haircut
Recently a sheep was found wandering the Australian bushland. He didn’t look much like a sheep at all, but rather a gigantic ball of wool with a tiny nose and legs sticking out. The construction worker who found him knew at once the sheep was in desperate need of help.
Domestic sheep need to be shorn about once a year, but this poor sheep had somehow wandered free and hadn’t had a haircut in over five years. His coat had continued to grow, wild and untamed, and had become increasingly burdensome, exhausting the sheep with every step and getting in the way of his ability to eat and sleep.
When the sheep arrived at an animal sanctuary, he was carrying an extra 78 pounds of matted fleece. Insects and twigs were stuck within the wool. The sheep couldn’t see because the wool covered his eyes. Somehow, he had managed to get enough food and water despite barely being able to walk.
Soon after his arrival, the sheep was given a haircut to remove the excess wool. Yet, he had spent so much time walking around with this wool that he had grown used to it. His heart had to be carefully monitored during the haircut to make sure he didn’t suffer a heart attack from the shock of having so much hair removed. When he stood up without the extra weight, he struggled to walk.
“Imagine carrying half your weight on your back for five years straight,” the animal sanctuary founder commented in disbelief.
We hear this story and shake our heads. It seems unimaginable. Newsworthy. Yet, carrying around extra heaviness in the form of negative thoughts – worries about the future and regrets about the past – is something our brain is quite good at doing every single day.
The brain gets overloaded more easily than other parts of the body, and negative thoughts are the heaviest for our minds to carry. However, our brains don’t have pain receptors, so we grow used to it.
Just like the sheep, who took a few wobbly steps and realized the freedom of being able to move unburdened, we too can decide to stop carrying the weight of our heavy, negative thoughts. We can stop attending to the things that fatigue our brains and instead give ourselves rest and nourishment through positive emotions.
It’s a shift in our attention that can feel as freeing as a fresh, new haircut.