Animals made of light swam between the waves. As I came closer they changed shape one by one, and each settled onto a glowing chair.
There were five chairs.5 The spectrum of emotion, divided into five seats. The calmest state of mind is the observer, who watches from beside the emotions without being swept away: the meerkat in the green chair, set in the middle.
👺 The red chair, the Jackal. Criticizes, blames, judges, attacks. “It’s all your fault!”
😨 The yellow chair, the Hedgehog. Doubts, fears, feels powerless. “What can I do?”
👽 The green chair, the Meerkat. Observes, wonders, notices. “Any other explanation?”
🚀 The blue chair, the Dolphin. Takes the lead, solves, feels sure. “Let’s try this.”
💜 The purple chair, the Giraffe. Empathizes, cares, connects. “You’re having a really hard time, aren’t you?”
The jackal’s fur stood on end. It was the one that had bared its teeth at my older friend, at H, at B, at the police. The hedgehog had been curled up for months behind the jackal’s shadow. And she, as far as I knew, had sat in the yellow chair all along. Someone was holding her there so she couldn’t get up.
Sometimes you sit in the yellow chair yourself, and sometimes someone puts you there. Sitting there is not the fault of the one who sits. And her fear was not like my overfitting. It wasn’t a wrong calculation.
The meerkat stared at me. It wanted me to follow.