The Buddha said,

Just as a man shudders with horror when he steps upon a serpent, but laughs when he looks down and sees that it is only  a rope, so I discovered one day that what I was calling "I" cannot be found, and all fear and anxiety vanished with my mistake.  (from Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen)

Tonite, I was out in the yard of my sister's new rental home ( I am taking care of the cats).  I was doing my Create Your Desires (CYD) exercise step 2 which calls for mindfulness.  In the corner of my eye, I saw a figure quickly come across.  My first thought was her cats were out, but quickly realized not so.  Then I thought it was a neighbor's cat.  I at first was nervous but then became excited with anticipation to see what type of cat it was.  I could see through the glass table the figure was coming close.  Low and behold it was a SKUNK coming up to me.  Since I was expecting a cat, I was thinking what a beautiful black and white eeekkk.  It really was beatiful and curled up like a halloween 'yoga pose' cat.  I jumped up with fear.  In the back of my mind, I was calm.  As I jumped up and my knees hit the table, the skunk jumped up as well.  Funny.  I was thinking "don't squirt me"!  I got to the sliding glass door and the figure skurried across the lawn to the left and along the fence and out of sight on the right side of the house.  Obviously she was as freaked out as I was.  I wonder why he didn't squirt me.

Back track 1 week when I woke up in a daze and stumbled out the front door (I sleep in the front room of my parent's house) to the right and in front of the house towards the side door where there is a bathroom.  I had been smelling skunk spray periodically during the summer and wondered if they lived on the property or the smell just drifts from the neighborhood nooks and crannies.  Anyway, in my confusion, I looked at the plants and noticed a figure.  It looked uneven.  I immediately thought skunk due to the white stripe along the black body seems to cause a layer look to it.  I began to run towards the side door and the outdoor light was activated.  As I was really picking up speed, I thought I might run into the car parked next to the side of the house and then noticed the figure: a layered boulder.  I had seen this same boulder over and over through much of my adult life.  I was freaked out and then realized I was seeing and imagining things.  Just like the Buddha said.

Now, I wonder if I can have the same reaction he had about discovering what he was calling "I" and vanishing along with his anxiety and fear.  I find it interesting about how a part of me was calm when I did actually see the skunk.  This has to be one of my all time fears: having a skunk approach and squirt me.  It almost happened at Vasona Lake a couple months ago.  I heard some restling near the creek and a skunk appeared and began to turn around and raise its tail.  I guess now all I have to fear is actually getting squirted since I have been approached.  It brings up in me what I call "Boogey Man" fear.