All stories begin when the main character is knocked off balance. This is true in life, too. Change can only happen when you are knocked off balance. In our work together in The Circle Project, Patti and I always ask, “In what ways are you keeping yourself from being knocked off balance?” How are you protecting yourself from the change that will transform you?
Sometimes change comes to you. Sometimes you have to go to it. Here’s the first part of a story and how change comes to the Polar Bear King. :
I. Clap, Clap, Shimmy-Shimmy Shake
Photo by Michael Barrow
Way to the north, in the land of the tall icebergs and endless snow, lived the great King of the Polar Bears. He was mighty and old and wise and friendly to all who knew him. He was big, big, big, – bigger than all the other polar bears and he like to dance. It was not uncommon for the sea-grey sea gulls to see him doing this happy dance, he’d go (CLAP, CLAP, SHIMMY-SHIMMY-SHAKE). And then he’d say, “Oh Yeah!” His body was covered in thick long white hair that sparkled like silver under the rays of the midnight sun. His claws were strong and sharp so that he could dance easily over the snow and slippery-slidy ice. He was a hunter and ate well on salmon fish and sleek black seals. And when his belly was full of seals and fish, he’d go CLAP, CLAP, SHIMMY-SHIMMY-SHAKE. And he’d say, “Oh Yeah!”
The beautiful sea gulls, those graceful scavenger birds, loved The King of the Polar Bears because he was always careful to leave them plenty of left-overs from his meals. When he did his shimmy-shimmy shake and said, “oh Yeah,” he’d signal his friends the birds to come and join the feast. Because he was so considerate, the gulls never starved, and for that they were grateful. This great king knew there was plenty of life and food to go around. That’s why he danced!
The other polar bears felt good when they came to visit their king. They would come to see him for advice or when they were ill or in trouble or when there was a dispute over hunting grounds. Or when they just wanted to cheer up their day. He was always happy and fair and kept peace in the kingdom.
Now, the other animals where certain that the Polar Bear King had to be some kind of a great magician because nothing seemed able to harm him and he always had plenty to eat. Even in the lean times he seemed to always have plenty of food. And he was always so happy! When he went (CLAP, CLAP, SHIMMY-SHIMMY-SHAKE) the whole ground danced and his great good, “Oh, yeah!” made every heart swell with delight. He seemed to get bigger and stronger with every single passing year.
One day, the great good king was snoozing in his cave when he heard a sound outside in the water; a crinkley and crackley sound like the slow crunching of ice. It was a sound he’d never heard before. He stood and stretched and went outside to investigate. In the water, slowly breaking forward through the ice, was an enormous wooden thing. It steadily broke its way through a narrow strip of shallow ice, made thin and uncovered by the steady summer sun. Standing in the wooden thing were several strange creatures, creatures that he’d never seen before. They stood on two legs. They looked scrawny and only had hair on the tops of their heads. The great bear had never seen anything like it so he moved toward the strange creatures standing in the wooden thing cracking through the summer ice. He lifted his great nose, sniffing the air and caught the strange scent of these funny looking creatures. He wondered if they would be friends or if he would have to fight with them. He already knew by their scent that they wouldn’t be good to eat.
When the king got near the water’s edge, one of the two-legged creatures yelped and raised something that looked like a straight shiny stick and pointed it at him. The stick made a loud “bang,” and the great bear felt a thump in his shoulder, his world began to spin, his mighty legs began to shake and his great body gave away beneath him. He fell hard onto the ice. He saw the two-legged creatures dance; they went (clap, clap, shimmy, shimmy shake) then everything went black. That was all he remembered. (…to be continued).
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The Direction of Intention 