To Tame a Fox: Life Lessons From Nature

You cannot tame anything by chasing after it. When you really want something, sometimes you must be still and let it come to you.

THE STORY

I have always loved Gene Wilder. His piercing blue eyes always seemed so kind and inviting.

I don't remember when I first fell in love with him--like most kids my age, it may have been when he played the eccentric chocolatier in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or it may have been when he played The Waco Kid in the side-splittingly funny Blazing Saddles--but I know for sure that my heart was sealed when he played The Fox in The Little Prince.

Though the novella by Antoine de Saint Exup? was well-known to most, for many years my only exposure to this inspiring story was through this 1974 movie, which was nominated for two Academy Awards and won a Golden Globe.

The plot consists of a pilot who is stranded in the Sahara desert and comes across an "extraterrestrial (though entirely human-appearing) prince. In their conversations, the author reveals his own views about the follies of mankind and the simple truths that people seem to forget as they grow older." (Wikipedia)

The prince tells the pilot of many of his adventures, including his visit to earth and the many creatures he has met here.

One of them was a fox. Enter Gene Wilder.

Gene Wilder's Fox is cautious but caring (those eyes!), as he teaches the little Prince how he could tame him and they could become friends. Amazingly, this same exchange can teach us some of the exact principles of getting whatever we want in life to come to us.

"Every day, you would come and sit where you're sitting now.

"You'd always come at the same time at, let's say, four in the afternoon.

"I could start getting excited about, oh about, 3 o'clock.

"If you came any old time, I wouldn't have a chance to get keyed up."

"But what would I do at 4 o'clock?" asks the Prince.

"Nothing," the Fox replies.

"Nothing?"

"Of course not, if you did anything, I would get frightened, and I wouldn't come out."

THE LESSON

You really can have what you want. But to get it, there are a few principles you must apply from learning how to tame a fox.

First, you must be consistent. The Prince was to come every day at the same time. He could not come "at any old time." He must be consistent. Consistent action shows the Universe that you're serious about your desire.

Second, you must be still and allow it to come to you. If you have ever chased anything (or anyone, for that matter!), you know that doing so only causes it to run the other direction. You work harder and have less results when you chase after something. Ah, but if you're still...if you're still, and you are behaving in ways that make you attractive, people and things will naturally be drawn to you.

And what if things don't come to you the way you had hoped, or they disappear just as you see them around the corner? Then you can be sure to hear the Fox saying to you, just like he said to the little Prince:

"You moved!"

TAKE ACTION

Are you frustrated with the results you are getting in some area of your life? Take action!

Today's action step: Set a timer for five minutes. Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Visualize what it is you want and, in your mind, allow it to come to you. You may even want to stretch out your arms and visualize it running to you for an embrace.

Notice as you do this how good it makes you feel--how much better, in fact, than if you were to run after it. Of course, you may want to do this visualization for more than five minutes. If you're like me, it will feel so good, it will be hard for you to want to do anything else!