While I was taking some quiet time this morning I asked Spirit to give me something that Spirit knew I needed. I opened my book on Native Medicine and the page before me was a reflection on the gift and power of risk taking, with Mountain Lion given as an example of a being that exemplified and embodied that gift.
Knowing very little about Mountain Lion I did a little research and found the following.
The Mountain Lion is native to the mountains of the Americas and is a highly adaptive feline, able to withstand the harsh conditions in the Rocky and Andes mountains. Mountain Lions do not hibernate and therefore undergo uncompromising winters.
Female Mountain Lions are extremely protective over their Mountain Lion kittens, which are born blind and are completely dependent on their mother until around 3 months of age. After six months, the kittens begin to hunt small prey on their own. Mountain Lions have no real natural predators.
A few other interesting facts were: their top speed is 30 mph, their life expectancy is ten to wenty years and they live in a solitary manor.
Adaptability, is a key gift for anyone willing to risk! Letting go of the known to explore and embrace the new also takes courage, strength and creativity...gifts that Mountain Lion has to have in order to survive those uncompromising winters...and for us humans, it can seem like a dark winter when unknowns are being explored.
What I also found interesting was that at a very young age, Mountain Lion Kittens understand protective dependency and not long after are being taught how to find food enabling them to hunt small prey on their own! Are these not the same gifts our mothers strived to give us as children?
Once again I am seeing that our family members in the natural world have much to teach us. Mountain Lion's unique gifts if taken to heart and acted on can make risk taking less fearful and more fruitful!
