I am very pleased to announce an upcoming Bunny Buddhism book signing to be held at NOMAD in Cambridge, MA this Saturday, March 28, 2015 from 2:00 to 4:00pm.
Please join us for some tea, carrot cake, and bunniness!
NOMAD
1741 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 497-6677
Bellatrix and Voldemort on one of their many dates through the fence. Photo courtesy of Callie L.From the first day they met Bellatrix, Callie and her husband, Dave, knew she was a special bun. They got her when she was a wee little bun and quickly bonded her to a little blond lop named Voldemort. Bellatrix and Voldemort became fast friends and loved each other dearly.
For such a little bun, Bellatrix was unusually strong and had an enormous amount of life and spirit. She loved to chase Callie and Dave so she could groom them and give them bunny kisses. And she still had plenty more affection to offer her bunny companion, Voldemort.
Sadly, Bellatrix developed head tilt and many other medical complications early in life. Callie and Dave did their best to support her with vet trips, syringe feedings, medications, and lots and lots of love. Despite their best efforts, though, Bellatrix passed on when she was only eight months old.
Callie and Bellatrix. Photo by RogueWolf Photography, used with permission.Remarkably, Callie found her way through the pain that always accompanies such a loss and was able to find some inspiration. From the experience of caring for Bellatrix, Callie learned to love a special needs bunny, and she knows how many more of them are out there looking for forever homes. She hopes to open her heart and home to another special needs bun at some point soon.
In the end, Callie says she takes great comfort in knowing Bellatrix is binkying her heart out in the great beyond, free of all the physical limitations that held her back on this earth.
Well, Callie, I also find your story inspiring. Bellatrix was clearly a master of bunniness with a staggering amount of love to offer. Thank you so much for sharing your story. May you continue to heal from your grief and find ways to help the bunnies who need it most.
Bellatrix the bunny. Photo by RogueWolf Photography, used with permission.
Looking for more inspiring bunny stories? Try these:
As many of you know from a previous post, I lost my husband to suicide last August. If you have noticed me being a bit less frequent in my bunny photo posts since then, this is why. I am still very much grieving.
Photo: Witsanu Keephimai/Shutterstock
Meditation has helped me enormously—I have no doubt—in dealing with this devastating loss. What I find strange, though, is that memories of my husband don’t come up every time I sit. I would think there would be so many emotions and so many memories to sort through that they would come up in every meditation session.
Why don’t they?
Today, I think I found my answer. I am now at a point where the emotions aren’t hitting me at every single moment of every day. They hit me when I am over-stressed or over-tired and they hit me when something unexpectedly triggers a specific memory. When I cued up a guided 30-minute body scan meditation today, it unexpectedly triggered a specific memory.
At one point, the meditation began focusing on the chest and the heart and the lungs and these precious systems that support life. As soon as I thought about these systems, my mind was taken to the hospital, where I had watched for 90 minutes as 20 or more doctors gathered around my husband’s bed in the ICU and tried to restore his pulse and breathing.
Of course, tears came. I briefly panicked and awaited the full-body sobs. I thought for a moment that the whole meditation process was a wasted effort. But this kind of thing has happened to me so many times now that I have learned how to deal with it. The approach is always the same:
Acknowledge the memory and the emotion;
Try not to fight it and just let it be;
Gently return to the meditation, when you are ready.
For me, this meant seeing that hospital scene for a moment and reminding myself I was no longer there. The full-body sobs came and went, briefly, as soon as I allowed myself to feel. And then the task became gently turning my thoughts back to my breathing and the guided meditation.
May I allow my bunny emotions to flow through me and not define me.
As I write this, it sounds so easy. It sounds like I expect that every intense emotion can be handled in one sitting with three simple steps. But the fact is, it is not at all easy. It is incredibly difficult. I have been doing this over and over and over again since August. And I only know it is worth the trouble when I reflect on where I used to be.
When I read that post from September, I realize how far I have come. The fact that intense emotions don’t come up in every sitting is the result of working through the grieving process in the best way I can. I am fortunate to have made some progress.
To be fair, I think it is also important to note that I have had some fantastic professional help throughout this entire process. I would encourage anyone dealing with intense emotions to find a reputable therapist and to keep looking until you find one you trust. Meditation can help with intense emotions, but sometimes we all need a little more help. And there is absolutely no shame in asking.
Resources
Today’s meditation was one of the guided meditations included in the Insight Timer App. I am a fan of this app and often use it just for the timer and chimes, but today I used Elisha Goldstein’s 30-minute body scan meditation.
Elisha Goldstein’s 30-minute body scan meditation is also available online at ElishaGoldstein.com.
With special thanks to translator Karin Weingart and the good bunnies at Lotos (Random House Germany), I am very pleased to announce that the German translation of the Bunny Buddhism book is now available for pre-order. The German edition has a release date of March 16, 2015—just in time for Easter gifting!
If you’re in the US and looking for a German version on Kindle, you can find it on Amazon.
If you’re in Europe or interested only in the hardcover version, please click on the cover below to check out buying options for both the hardcover and electronic versions.
Wishing very happy reading to all our German-speaking friends!