RESENTMENT:
Make anger serve
constructive purpose
Continued from page 4
another person9s intentions.
The best way to get at
another person9s intent is
usually to ask them what was
going on from their perspec-
tive when the problem arose.
We may water the seed of
resentment because of what
Buddhists call habit energy.
If we are unaware that
certain words or actions trig-
ger resentment in us, we are
unable to make a conscious
decision about which seed to
water4resentment or happi-
ness. Instead we continue to
follow our habitual patterns.
Perhaps most signifi-
cantly, we water the seed of
resentment because we are
human. Consequently we will
sometimes make unwise and
unhealthy choices.
Reduce the suffering
caused by resentment
" Transform resentment
into constructive anger.
My wife and I were cross-
country skiing along a trail
set aside for non-motorized
use. We came upon a narrow,
steep section of trail chewed
up by a snowmobile.
After making it down to
the bottom of the slope, I
kept picturing myself taking
revenge on the hapless snow-
mobiler should he or she be
so foolish as to cross my path.
By the time we reached
the parking lot, my wife and
I had agreed that more con-
structive action was called for
4 she spoke to the head of
the snowmobile association
who was located there at Ray
Benson.
He promised to contact
members of his organiza-
tion and remind them of the
rules for trail use. Hearing
this, the poison of resentment
began to leach out of my
mind, replaced with gratitude
and renewed optimism that
conflicts can be resolved.
" Mindfulness techniques
The practice of focusing
our attention on our breath,
observing when our mind
wanders, and then escort-
ing our attention back to
the breath, enhances our
awareness 4 which makes
it easier for us to recognize
which seeds we are currently
watering.
Mindfulness practice
also helps to calm the mind,
reducing our emotional
reactivity.
" Set an intention
Setting a daily intention to
water the seed of happiness
enables us to choose wisely.
" Learn to soothe our
resentment
The Zen Buddhist Monk
Thich Nhat Hanh recom-
mends that we don9t try to
ignore or repress our feelings
of resentment, but rather we
learn to soothe our resent-
ment, just as a parent soothes
an upset infant.
" Forgive the person who
wronged us
As long as we hold
onto our resentment we
remain bound to the per-
son who treated us unjustly.
Forgiveness undoes the knot
of resentment.
" Remind ourselves that
we are fallible human beings
Sometimes we don9t
choose wisely. When we
err, we can give ourselves
a break. We compound our
suffering when we beat our-
selves up for our mistakes.
Buddhists tell us that there
is a storeroom in our mind
that holds seeds of love and
kindness, seeds of anger and
resentment, seeds of happi-
ness and contentment, seeds
of envy and jealousy, seeds
of gratitude and joy, seeds of
understanding and compas-
sion, and seeds of fear and
hate.
Choose wisely which
seeds you water for they will
manifest in the fertile soil of
your mind and give shape and
texture to your life.
Wednesday, May 26, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Tales from a
Sisters
Naturalist
by Jim Anderson
Hail the hardy
harlequins
You just have to admit,
those harlequin drakes are a
showpiece. They look like
they were posing for Roy
Low, a long-time birder of
Waldport, when he found
them all ganged up on the
rocks on the Oregon Coast,
enjoying the crashing surf.
Harlequin ducks can be
found all winter hanging out
along the Oregon coast, on
the western side of the North
American continent, and also
along the coast of Maine on
the other side of our good old
U.S. of A.
Their names relate to their
unique feather pattern that
resembles harlequin clowns
of the 17th Century who per-
formed in Europe and the
United Kingdom.
While the performances
of the harlequin characters
in the theatre is silent, our
feathered variety are pretty
noisy, especially during
mating season. Well, now
that I think of it, I9ll bet the
human harlequins could also
be pretty noisy off stage,
especially during the mating
season&
Harlequin ducks leave
the coast during mating sea-
son and get down to busi-
ness inland, along the banks
of the coastal streams. The
drakes are anything but quiet
retiring ducks; their unduck-
like squeaks can be heard
long distances from their
nest sites, which has given
PHOTO BY ROY W. LOWE
A group of darlequin male (drake) ducks posing on the rocks on the
Oregon Coast.
them another name 4 <Sea
Mouse.=
The scientific name for
the harlequin duck is as
unique as they are: genus
Histrionicus, and species
Histrionicus, named for
the <actors, and lords and
ladies= they9re supposed to
resemble.
According to notes on
the Cornell Lab9s birding
website, harlequin ducks suf-
fer more broken bones than
any other waterfowl spe-
cies. Rehabbing lab x-rays
and museum specimens have
determined that most adults
live with multiple healed
fractures; it9s just part of
their everyday life.
The oldest recorded
harlequin duck is a male
of 20-years and 9 months,
seen in British Columbia
and identified by its band in
2014, having been banded in
Alberta in 1995.
Which prompts me, under
the heading of <unsolic-
ited advice,= to send you to
Cornell9s website: https://
www.allaboutbirds.org/guide
overview, where you will
find lots of bird hints that
will make you and your bird-
ing days happier.
And then, if you9re just
getting started birding, and
you have one of those new-
fangled cell phones and
would like to get in on bird-
ing9s newest perks, down-
load Cornell9s free Merlin
app. Not only will you be
able to listen to 4 and begin
to understand 4 the whole
wonderful world of birds,
but you can listen to male
harlequin ducks as they shout
to their mates, <Here I come
honey!= or, the other, more
sinister, shout, <Get outta
here; she9s mine!=
I have a hunch you9d like
me to tell you right where to
go on the Coast to see those
beautiful harlequin drakes,
but they may already be up
on the Santiam River, where
Sue and I have seen them,
or other inland streams and
rivers, getting ready to raise
new harlequins.
That said, here9s a rough
idea of where Roy was when
he shot that gorgeous photo
of those harlequins posing
for their lady-loves: <Today,
I counted harlequin ducks at
high tide at Yaquina Bay. The
area was the south jetty from
the bridge to the finger jetty
at the west end of the gull
puddle parking area. I got an
accurate count of 45 birds,
a new high count for me.
It9s possible additional birds
could have been located fur-
ther west along the south
jetty or along the north jetty.=
I should also mention that
if you are along one of the
inland streams and happen to
come upon a pair looking for
a nesting site, stay back away
from them and just watch.
It9s the female who picks
the the site and it could be
on a cliff overlooking the
stream, or in a big tree cav-
ity 4who knows what
she9ll settle on. The ducks
enjoy each other9s company
so well, that once a pair is
formed, it can be for life.
TELLING THE STORIES
OF THE SISTERS
COMMUNITY
Through boom and bust, good times and
hard times, for more than four decades.
THE NUGGET NEWSPAPER VALUES OUR READERS
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to continue telling the stories of the Sisters community through changing times.
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21
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