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Heartwings Love Notes 990 - The Squeak in the Hall

Heartwings says, "Beware of assumptions, they can mislead you."

We walked in from our errands and started up the stairs to our apartment. "Squeak." I looked at Stephen. "Think we have a cricket? He shrugged. "Could that maybe be a bird?" We looked at each other and shook our heads. "These bundles are heavy," Stephen said, "let's get on upstairs." We did and didn't think much more about it. Several days went by, and the squeaks or chirps, depending on how you interpreted the sound, continued.

We were busy with holiday and birthday celebrations. The squeaks continued. We ignored them. There was too much else going on. If it were a cricket, it would probably hop out or perish, I thought, and it couldn't have been a bird because we would have discovered it by now and let it out. Several more days passed. The sounds became more frequent. I didn't want to bother the landlord over the holiday, nor did I want to have poison sprayed onto the stairs if he suspected an infestation.

Midweek after the fourth, Beth, a dear friend from Virginia came over to take us out for a birthday lunch as a gift for Stephen. As we started out the apartment door the squeaky chirp sounded. I laughed and said "That's been going on for a while now. We don't know what it is; we think it might be a cricket." Beth pointed at the ceiling and the smoke alarm that was placed there. She laughed and said, "The battery is telling you it needs to be replaced." "Oh, my goodness," I said. How silly of us not to figure that out.

As I thought about it, I realized that our assumptions concerning the noise had kept us from finding out what was really happening. That's the difficulty with assumptions: once you think you know something you don't look further. Why bother? Problem solved, right? No, not solved, merely put on pause until the actual solution emerges, if indeed it can get past the assumptive attitude. As long as you believe you don't need to look, you won't unless of course something changes. In our case the squeaking was becoming more frequent and might eventually have prompted further investigation.

There is an interesting and useful concept in Buddhism called Beginner's Mind. What this means is that rather than make any assumptions or thinking that you know something about anything, you pretend to know nothing and begin your investigation from there. This is similar to something I learned in a yoga class many years ago from a special guest instructor. He told us, "Make this your mantra (instructional saying). I know nothing, I want to learn." At first, I bristled at the thought that I knew nothing, then I realized what he meant: not that I actually knew nothing but that I could learn more. Once we told our kind landlord about the battery, he replaced it right away. We don't miss the squeaks.

May you see the truth free of assumptions.

PS Have you mislead yourself with assumptions? Do write and share. I love it when readers respond with their comments. Write to me at tashahal@aol.com and for more Love Notes, please visit www.heartwingsandfriends.com. Hope to see you there.

 

I love to hear from readers and would be honored if you would comment and let me know any suggestions or thoughts. If a friend sent you this, you can sign up at my web site, www.heartwingslovenotes.com, where more love notes can be found in the archives.

Blessings and Best Regards,
Tasha Halpert
 

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