The story of the Tarbaby

When I was a widdle kid, my Grandmother used to read me bedtime stories. One of the stories I remember well is the story of the Tarbaby from Uncle Remus' tales (Song of the South). For those of you who are not familiar with the story or those of you who may have forgotten the story, I will review it quickly here.

Brer Rabbit is always being chased by Brer Fox, but Brer Fox can never seem to capture him. So, Brer Fox comes up with the idea that he will set up a figure made completely of tar. He knows that Brer Rabbit is friendly and will take exception to not being spoken to when he greets the tarbaby. Brer Fox knows that Brer Rabbit will likely come into physical contact with the tarbaby and get stuck in the tar making it easy for him to finally capture Brer Rabbit.

So, along comes Brer Rabbit and greets the tarbaby when he sees him along the road. Of course, the tarbaby does not answer him back. Brer Rabbit becomes frustrated and eventually asks, "Are you deaf or just plain old rude?". (On an aside, here. I used this question once when I was working at the hospital and a particular nurse never said hello to me when I greeted her! Ha ha, thanks, Brer Rabbit!)

So back to our story... Brer Rabbit eventually makes physical contact with the tarbaby getting completely stuck in the morass. The more he struggles and fights, the deeper he gets in the tar. Then, here comes Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit sees the plan has worked and he is stuck. (For those of you who are now very concerned about Brer Rabbit and fear he will meet his demise, read the rest of the story and find out how he cleverly gets Brer Fox to let him go.)

But, I digress. Those of you who know me and interact with me know how much I love metaphorical stories and anecdotal tales that teach us so much of how the world works. I was thinking about this story and seeing how true it is that when we become defensive and argue with another we begin to get stuck in their "tar". Their tar is their problem. When we can view it clearly that we do not have to become involved in their "tar", we can prevent ourselves from becoming stuck in their morass. We can mindfully see the tar clearly and we can see what will happen to us if we become engaged with it.

It's a wonderful metaphor for hypnotherapy and you can be assured that I am already working on writing a script for use in my practice.

For those of you who cannot locate this story and are dying to find out how Brer Rabbit escapes contact me and I'll fill you in.