A young, ratty, wild dog sat down off the side of a well-traveled trail and sighed. Up in a tree behind him a wiry old vulture grunted and frightened the traveler.
“Don’t know where you’re going, do you?”
He turned hesitantly toward the sparsely feathered bird and watched her jowls flap as she moved.
“I thought I did. I was following the pack and they said we’ll just follow this road and get where we need to go.”
“And get there you did.” the old buzzard interrupted, licking her beak at the sad creature.
The mangy dog stared at her confused.
“Those who don’t know where they’re going,” she hissed, “or why they’re trying to get there, always end up lost.
The dog licked his scabs and whimpered.
“So where do you want to go, dog?”
“I don’t know,” the dog replied. “I don’t really like scavenging for garbage and dead things, but, dogs are scavengers.” He licked his paw. “At least that’s what I’ve been told.”
“Well then, go hunt or forage.” The old vulture threw her head back and hissed at the moon. “More for me.”
The dog looked up at her perplexed.
“Right now, you ugly mutt, you’re nothing more than the sum total of all the wretched thoughts you’ve entertained throughout your miserable life. Your thoughts keep you stuck where you are or they set you free. If you’re so unhappy, start thinking different thoughts.”
“Different thoughts?”
“Yes, you stupid dog.” She hissed again and hacked as though she were about to vomit something up. “Thoughts make feelings, feelings make words, words make actions, and actions feed thoughts.”
“But I can’t see my thoughts?” He kinked his head looking for any thoughts that might be hovering above him.
“Sure you can. You’re a tracker. Just follow your actions back to your words and your words to your feelings and then back to your thoughts.”
The dog sniffed the air and found something.
“But what am I supposed to be thinking?” He asked.
The vulture screamed a vulturey scream. “Aghck. That’s the question that got you into this mess.” She snipped at a lice in her wing and then flew down beside him and inhaled his rotten stench. “Anything will probably do as long as it’s not what you’ve been thinking up to now.”
The dog tried to think a different thought and cringed. “But thinking different hurts.”
“So does thinking the same. Different thinking just hurts in a different way and for a shorter period of time. If you pick the right thoughts, they’ll hurt for a moment but after a while they’ll taste – very delicious.”
