Abby, I loved this. Your words brought such a gentle nudge to look up and tune back in.
The idea of trusting the bird, not the book. Yes! I love that. It brought back a memory from my teens, when I used to play a game with friends: they’d blindfold me, drive somewhere unknown, and I’d try to navigate us home. This was a time before GPS. Getting purposely lost and finding our way back by internal compass was such fun. I miss that sometimes. These days, I remind myself that even the GPS is part of the universe, too. But there’s still something powerful about listening within instead of “with-out.”
The image of the hummingbird hit me as well. “Trapped” within their perpetual motion of energy consumption and use. The contrast of that with the pelican reminded me that the albatross spends more than 80% of its life at sea and has found a way to sleep while flying. The diversity of experience in birds is so amazing.
This whole piece felt like a hand gently lifting my chin toward the sky. Thank you for helping me remember to look up. And to listen for the inner song only I can hear. 🙏
Oh I love the getting lost game, Glenn! I'm going to play this with my teenagers. My father-in-law tells me when he was a Boy Scout as a teen in South Africa, they'd get dropped off out in the bush with no supplies and have to get back home. It would take them a couple of days I think. Imagine if we did that with our kids here in the U.S. I do believe it builds resilience and self-confidence in a major way.
Love this Abby! I live in a farm surrounded by greenery, garden, animals and birds and fully relate to what you say. Even then I am always still tethered to the digital world and while I do appreciate all the gifts it brings, it also brings"I feel a subtle eroding of something essential: my capacity to trust myself". As a very intuitive person, this erosion which happens marginally every day but continuously is something I need to watch out for and learn from the birds.
A very helpful reminder to look up - it's actually guided me the past two days, as I take my morning dog-walk at sunrise, to look upon at the sky and to listen to the birds. I told my 17-year-old about this post and she said "Birds also make me feel safe, because when I can hear birds I know everything is all right - birds stop singing when there is danger, so I trust them."
Loved this article Abby with so many valuable reminders and insights. "Fly like you, not like them!" might become a new go to mantra for myself and the young people I work with every day.
Abby… just love what you are sharing in this next chapter you are currently writing…I want to figure out how I might help you and your team with the successful launch and development of “Flight School”… It is the kind of pattern breaking, innovation in education and purpose finding that needs to take flight.
Abby, I loved this. Your words brought such a gentle nudge to look up and tune back in.
The idea of trusting the bird, not the book. Yes! I love that. It brought back a memory from my teens, when I used to play a game with friends: they’d blindfold me, drive somewhere unknown, and I’d try to navigate us home. This was a time before GPS. Getting purposely lost and finding our way back by internal compass was such fun. I miss that sometimes. These days, I remind myself that even the GPS is part of the universe, too. But there’s still something powerful about listening within instead of “with-out.”
The image of the hummingbird hit me as well. “Trapped” within their perpetual motion of energy consumption and use. The contrast of that with the pelican reminded me that the albatross spends more than 80% of its life at sea and has found a way to sleep while flying. The diversity of experience in birds is so amazing.
This whole piece felt like a hand gently lifting my chin toward the sky. Thank you for helping me remember to look up. And to listen for the inner song only I can hear. 🙏
🙏✨🙏
Oh I love the getting lost game, Glenn! I'm going to play this with my teenagers. My father-in-law tells me when he was a Boy Scout as a teen in South Africa, they'd get dropped off out in the bush with no supplies and have to get back home. It would take them a couple of days I think. Imagine if we did that with our kids here in the U.S. I do believe it builds resilience and self-confidence in a major way.
Love this Abby! I live in a farm surrounded by greenery, garden, animals and birds and fully relate to what you say. Even then I am always still tethered to the digital world and while I do appreciate all the gifts it brings, it also brings"I feel a subtle eroding of something essential: my capacity to trust myself". As a very intuitive person, this erosion which happens marginally every day but continuously is something I need to watch out for and learn from the birds.
A very helpful reminder to look up - it's actually guided me the past two days, as I take my morning dog-walk at sunrise, to look upon at the sky and to listen to the birds. I told my 17-year-old about this post and she said "Birds also make me feel safe, because when I can hear birds I know everything is all right - birds stop singing when there is danger, so I trust them."
Loved this article Abby with so many valuable reminders and insights. "Fly like you, not like them!" might become a new go to mantra for myself and the young people I work with every day.
Abby… just love what you are sharing in this next chapter you are currently writing…I want to figure out how I might help you and your team with the successful launch and development of “Flight School”… It is the kind of pattern breaking, innovation in education and purpose finding that needs to take flight.
love the insights !
Extraordinary and beautiful words. Thank you dear Abby. x
What a great reminder to always return to the natural world for wisdom and grace.
I like your post, Abby. It immediately made me think of this song https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=d48hY359hkw&feature=shared