And on the Seventh Day …

… they meditate.

The bears are adorable, but they’re also rowdy. On a given day, Moon Pie is liable to hang himself (by accident) on a purse strap or a bauble chain, Burl and Elliot are scrapping over the football, Rufus is in a snit about something, and Pumpkin is trying to survive amid the chaos by punching a hole in it. Gingersnap, Spirit Bear, and Gorden are milder in temperament than their feistier fellows, but even one of them will lose patience over the ongoing shenanigans once in a while. Either their energy was getting hairier or my aura has grown more sensitive to dissention because a few Sundays ago, I took away the football and gave them a group time out. I sat them in a circle, gave them a gazing ball, and told them they’d get to play tomorrow.

At first they were like, What is this? Definite grumbling and some puzzlement ensued. Moonie thought the gazing ball was a toy and tried to bat it over to Burl, but it’s an amethyst crystal that weighs more than he does, so it didn’t go very far. Not surprisingly, Spirit Bear was the first to grasp what I was trying to teach them, and in his quiet way, he got them to fall in line. When I checked on them a few hours later, they had settled into a peaceful groove and were far more relaxed at bedtime than if they’d been left to wreak their usual havoc throughout the day.

Now he’s the group guru. It’s taken some time, but since they’ve been spending Sundays in mindful and collaborative quiet, they seem calmer and less contrary during the rest of the week. Of course they still have their moments—you can’t alter their personalities completely and I wouldn’t want to—but I think they actually look forward to Sundays and their weekly “bear sangha”.

I know I do.