Some politicians (blond on not) could learn this too!
"The lizard you may grasp with the hands, Yet it is in kings' palaces."
- Bible verse 30:28
A lizard ran down my back when I was trying to climb a Guava tree. I was 10 years old or so at that time. I distinctly remember the creepy feeling I got as I felt the claws dig into my back and the scaly skin brushed against my neck. Luckily, the lizard did not get under my shirt!
I used to steer well clear of lizards and Guava trees for quite a few years after that incident.
Later in life, I saw everything from a huge Bengal monitor lizard living between rafters of a transit home we had in southern India to the tiny ones we usually find in most households in Africa and Asia. It is so omni-present that this little animal has it's mention in the Bible - no less!
We have had some really funny incidents with Lizards. One of my German colleagues, on his first visit to Asia - ran out from his hotel room, screaming "There is an animal in my room". Clad in a mere towel, he almost resembled Archimedes in his great Eureka moment. When I rushed in, anticipating a dog or a cat to have invaded the room, I almost fell over laughing to see this tiny house lizard on the wall.
The ubiquitous presence of the lizard intrigued me though. What is it about this hardy animal that makes it an evolutionary success and so universal?
As I found this 'Guru' meditating with open eyes, while staying perfectly still for over an hour, at the Skukuza camp in Kruger, I snapped this picture with my Canon SX50HS camera and thought about what we could learn from the lizard.
The success of the lizard, in my view, is based on 3 things (not counting it's famous trick of shedding it's tail. That is a different topic all together which I may cover in another complete article).
Lizards are born independent and keep growing throughout their life. They are survivors who stay on - do not disappear in a blinding flash of glorious death. Compare that to our politicians and public figures. Do they last long and keep growing? Nope - once they become 'successful', there ends the story. They become a mere 'impression' of themselves and have no substance left. There are very few noteworthy exceptions in the political world.
Politicians, and all of us, could learn the following from the Lizard...
Maintain a low profile
I have always maintained that there is nothing wrong with being proud of our achievements. However, we should never let that get to our head. Being a high flyer in achievements is fine but we need to stay grounded in our behavior.
Image source
A lizard avoids many enemies and backbiters by maintaining a low profile. We would all benefit from learning that.
Shed old ways
We need to grow constantly. Not in physical terms but in terms of our knowledge, maturity and skills. Unfortunately. many of us adopt the 'old dog can not learn new tricks' attitude. We put shackles around ourselves with this attitude.
We need to adapt and change continually.
A lizard sheds it's skin every so often and keeps growing throughout it's life. This is something certainly worth adopting. Speaking from own experience, I can vouch that we all become stagnant at some stage in life and need a rude awakening to jolt us back to reality. Instead of waiting for that rude awakening, like the lizard, we should constantly review and revise our old ways.
Be dashing!
Have you seen the lethargic looking lizard, sunning itself for hours without moving a muscle, suddenly dart at lightning speed to grab an insect? Are we capable of moving that fast when opportunity presents itself? Alas - the answer is mostly No. We are too habituated to the current cozy circumstances to act FAST. We need to keep ourselves mentally agile and have our resources lined up for eventualities where we need to be like the Flash when an opportunity is spotted.
We also need to free our mind and develop confidence in order to allow us to be dashing.
So - in line with my own preaching, I shed my old ways to get here on Steemit, am mostly humble (the whales help me keep that way! LOL) and am dashing to grab opportunities for good interaction. I AM a Lizard (wait - a Lion-Lizard??? Arghh)
In Conclusion:
Learn from the lowly Lizard - whether a politician or not, become a wizard!
Steemians, please comment freely to share your experiences, knowledge and views about learning from Lizards. Thanks.
Note: All images except for the wildlife photos and the title image created by me are from pixabay.com. Image credit has been specifically mentioned for images not falling under these two categories.
