millipede

The other day I was taking a walk in the morning, and I was suddenly stopped in my tracks, as I so often am when I'm walking in nature. On this occasion it was because of a millipede, which was crossing the path in front of me. It was a beautiful creature, and it was moving so smoothly. Its body was gliding. And underneath its numerous legs were rippling like waves, patches of legs close together compressed in some places, and in other places the legs spread apart, but these compressional waves were rippling down the length of its body.

This beautiful creature reminded me of a story. There was a centipede out walking one day when it met a millipede. And the centipede was envious. But he was also rather cruel and clever. So he said to the millipede, "I am curious, you move so effortlessly, and yet how do you know which leg to move next, you have so many?”

The millipede replied, "I've never thought about it. Leave it with me and I'll give you an answer next time we meet."

Now, next time the centipede came to the millipede, the millipede was tangled up in a big knot on the ground, its legs waving chaotically.

"What's happened?" asked the clever centipede, feigning innocence.

The millipede replied, "It's your question. Ever since you asked I've been trying to think which leg do I move next. But with a thousand legs it's impossible, and now I don't know how to walk at all."

And this is how we are in so many parts of our life. Our body knows what is the right thing to do, in every moment. It knows which leg to move next. It knows how we should move in the moment. It knows what is right for us, and what is not right, and also what is right for the other.

If we trust our bodies, in every moment, we will always do the right thing. But most of us have rather lost touch with our body's intelligence, and instead we think. Instead of responding intuitively and spontaneously, we try to think what to do. And that thinking is usually ill equipped to decide. With the best intention in the world, we will mess up. We'll end up like that millipede, tangled in a mess, not knowing which leg to move, not knowing how to respond to the situation.

The thinking mind has its role to play, but it's a minor one, only occasionally needed. We should instead trust our intuition, trust the felt sense in our body. This way we will glide through life, like the millipede that was in front of me, on that morning walk: effortless, beautiful to behold, and not needing a single thought.