I Found the Lions

I found the lions
I escaped their jaws
I kept a few of their teeth

But I let them keep their claws

I found the lions or maybe they found me
Could have been bad luck
Or it could have been my destiny

I really need to thank Carolyn Wonderland in person someday for her "Miss Understood" CD and for her rendition of Terri Hendrix' I Found the Lions in particular, if I ever get the chance. I feel like Dr. Seuss's Grinch, my heart seems to grow 3 sizes every time I play the song (and I play the song a lot.)

I come from a family with lots of Leo women (myself included.) Strong willed, opinionated, uppity broads who stand up for each other and what's right. My grandmother and mom in particular have always been strong examples of resilient, lion-hearted women who can see anything through to the end and face any problem head on.

They also tend to have very wicked senses of humor. If you meet my mom and she happens to have a bruise or a scrape somewhere (she has a formerly-feral cat - so this is a somewhat likely occurrence) and you ask her about it, she always responds, "I got it in a bar fight," with a nearly innocent smile. Of course, she did shoot pool on the local league so one was never entirely sure she was always joking.

But as I spent more and more of my life away from them, away from their influence, I stopped being a lion. It was such a slow drift, I didn't notice it for a long time. Before long, all my energy was being spent jumping at shadows. Illness, stress, finances - everything we all go through takes its toll. But how we respond to it makes all the difference.

Talking to my mom one evening, we were discussing pain management, which we both struggle with. And we agreed that it's not the pain that will ultimately drive you to despair. It's the fear of the pain. The fear of the pain colors every decision - should I stay home? What if I fall? Should I call in? Should I just stay in bed? Should I just. stop. breathing.

Suddenly I was no longer a lion. I was a mouse.

I played dead

But my pulse was too loud
The hyenas giggled as the lions formed a crowd
I played dead

The buzzards in the tree

Waited for the lions to make a meal out of me

I was holding my breath, but what was I waiting for? No one's coming to save me. This isn't a dress rehearsal for something better. This is it, chica. I was relying on various experts, which to some extent you should, of course - that's what they're there for. But, doctors, accountants, financial advisers - they're all telling you the same thing - some stuff is seriously wrong. Here are some ideas, but you've to be the one to sort it out. There's only so far into the jungle they can take you, then you've got to go the rest of the way on your own.

So now it's time to stop listening to the wrong people and start surrounding myself with the right people. The people who've always been the right influence. This summer I'm visiting the pride, going home to the lion's den - back to Nebraska, to my family. I need stand barefoot in the dirt and get my bearings. Listen to some Phoebe Snow with my mom and then introduce her to Wonderland, and Ruthie Foster, Guy Forsyth and Band of Heathens while I'm at it. Music is the language of healing for us - the only drug that helps every time.

It's time to be a lion again.

Don't mess with the mighty mighty jungle

Swim through the ocean
Eat the fish in the sea

Don't mess with the mighty mighty jungle
Because where you find the lions

You will find me



An amazing thing happens when you make the simple decision to be a lion again. You breathe a little deeper. You hold your head a little higher. Start to feel a little more swing in that back porch. It changes how everyone else sees you too.

Hendrix's song isn't about being the lion, of course, it's about escaping lions - but mastering the jungle is what it's really all about. So step on out of the den into your domain, take a deep breath, and start taking back your jungle.

I found the lions
I fell into their lair
No one was there to help me
No one was there to care
I found the lions or maybe they found me

When you stumble in the jungle
It is all a mystery
I played dead
They tossed me around
I kept one eye on the buzzards
And the other on the ground

I played dead
My blood turned thin
The hyenas giggled as the lions closed in
Out of me out of me
You'll get a little grub
A little bit of skin
And a bone for the cub

No monkey no beast
No dinner no feast
No flood of blood to say the least
Out of me out of me
You'll come to find
I'm the king of your state of mind
Out of me out of me out of me you'll get
All that you will come to regret