The Hidden Deer Within: Finding What Was Never Lost

In the misty mountains that straddle Laos and Vietnam, there’s a small creature making a very big comeback. The chevrotain, sometimes called the “mouse deer,” is, in fact, neither mouse nor deer, but the smallest hoofed mammal on the planet.

For three decades, that “littlest deer” eluded scientists, camera traps, and search parties, until the scientific community finally gave up and declared it extinct. That is, until a small, gentle creature was spotted wandering into the frame of a wildlife camera. “We were stunned,” said the lead researcher. “It was a very shy creature, and when we found it, we thought, ‘Wow, it’s alive!’”

The image is a lovely metaphor for the light inside us all. For the natural joy, the wild wonder, and the spark of playful wisdom that we all carry within.

Camouflaged, but Still Here

The chevrotain is a master of camouflage, so perfectly tucked into the forest floor that you could literally stand two feet from one and not see it. That’s how the light within us feels at times, isn’t it? Hidden, camouflaged, under blankets of stress and business and all that forest static of our daily lives.

We begin to think it’s lost. The chevrotain is our spirit. We search, with high-powered cameras and racing minds, for some proof that it’s still here. But it isn’t lost; it’s right here, and it’s just waiting for us to notice.

As Bodhidharma put it:

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“If you see Nirvana as somewhere outside, you’re deluding yourself.”

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Like the littlest deer in the forest, our inner light waits, patient and unbothered by the comings and goings of our outer lives. It just waits for us to slow down and to take off our own pair of camouflage pants.

Finding the Right Camera

So, how do we spot our littlest deer? Well, first, we set up a camera. Not the one with blinking lights and a tripod, but our own camera of awareness and practice. We set it up with forest bathing so that we are slowed down enough to notice the scuff of a deer foot.

We set it up with trail running and mountain walking, or maybe some outdoor yoga, so that our camouflage is softened and our inner deer can peek out. We set it up with stillness and awareness, and our own camera flashes wide and bright.

And eventually, the deer within us stirs, shifts, and starts to walk toward the camera’s lens. It can sense our attention. It senses the subtle cue of our turning toward and the invitation of our softening. The littlest deer steps into view, not because it was ever lost, but because we are finally ready to see it.

A Reunion, Never Lost

When the Laos wildlife cameras captured the first image of the chevrotain, it wasn’t a discovery at all. It was a reunion. This is how it is with our own nature. With our inner deer, our light, our joy. We’re not really discovering something new. We’re remembering what was always there.

Zen is the practice of awareness. But it’s not about grasping, reaching, or searching for some outer light. It’s a settling in, a brushing away of the camouflage, and an opening to what has always been.

When we find our own inner deer, we don’t just step into the light—we become a light for others. We embody that which is found, wild, zen, and full of playful resilience.

Finding what was Never Lost

So this is the invitation: wander into your own inner forest. Pause long enough to hear the whisper of leaves. Pause long enough to stretch into the forest or do yoga beneath the big sky. Walk barefoot in the grass. Let the heartbeat of the mountain trail take away the camouflage.

Your own little deer has been waiting for you. It isn’t lost. It isn’t extinct. It’s just camouflaged in the dense forest of daily life, just waiting to step into your own light. And when you see it, your inner deer will remind you of what you always knew: your soul is here. Pulsing, vibrant, alive.

Here’s to finding what was never lost.

Cheers!

Kether

Spunky Mind

“Your own Self-Realization is the greatest

service you can render the world.”

— Ramana Maharshi

Take your insights further with the

Hidden Deer Within Field Notes.

A free reflection page with prompts and

practices to deepen your connection.

The Hidden Deer Within – Download