Spirit Animal – Hippopotamus Rules

Picture from junglephotos.com

Hippopotamus lives a very  peaceful life.  That is because she has a set of guidelines or rules, to govern her life.  She encourages us to adapt her rules because they have kept the hippopotamus alive for sixty thousand years, and these rules have allowed her to evolve.

1. Pick your environment, and know it well.  Our environment is a gift from our cousins, the Whale family.  This allows us to be in mostly a freshwater marine environment. We are always watchful about who or what enters our territory, and we defend our area vehemently.  You, who harass us, call us vicious.  Perhaps when you invade someone else’s country, you would call their reaction vicious as well.
2. Water is necessary for life.  It is how we live.  Water protects us from predators, from sunburn, from dehydration, from fear of drowning or flooding, and from famine.  All that we need comes from water.  We share our water with other animals as long as they are not invasive.
3. We eat greens – all kinds, but mostly grass.  We have one food that is particularly good for us and we stick to it.  Too much variety in the diet leads to discomfort, which is stressful, and which causes aggressive behaviour. It may be that you need to eat less variety and more of the healthy greens like we do.
4. We band together to keep one another safe.  Yet, we do not form close attachments because there is no need.  Therefore, there is little drama in the pod.  We each do our own thing, together.  Perhaps you get too caught up on one another’s lives, which is why your life does not seem peaceful.
5. Our life is peaceful.  We have oneness in our pod.  We move together.  We have little to fight about.  Life is good.