More Than Meets the Eye

Here it is 4:00 in the morning and I’m allowing myself to ‘not’ sleep instead of struggling to get in those last few minutes before work. I’m getting a tooth pulled today, so I know I’ll have time to sleep later and that’s okay. 😊 As far as the tooth goes, I’ll have a whole long post soon about listening to your body 😊 For today though, I have some mid-night thoughts to share about the unseen.

Unseen in this case meaning “more than meets the eye” in situations. Isn’t it funny how, as humans, when we’re deep in a situation we don’t see all of the aspects of it… even for people who work strongly with their intuition? We “know” this – and still don’t always take that step back and re-evaluate when we should. I woke up from a weird dream about people I haven’t seen in ages, and was pondering that on my midnight run across the hall. The deeper involved we are in something, the less we see the whole picture – “can’t see the forest for the trees” my dad and Grandpa used to say.

Which reminded me of birds – I know it sounds like the train of thought derailed, but hear me out. 😊 On the train of thought, I believe I started with how we act and interact in relationships (with Self and others!), to how even the best intentions can be misconstrued, to how not everything is as it appears (that dream was definitely weird, let me tell you!), and ended with how even the deepest love can appear to something akin to malice if not received the same way it was sent.

Which brings us to the birds… I don’t know much about birds – other than I love to listen to them at sunrise as they call the sun, that even when they’re fighting for dominance over who gets to nest in which tree they are beautiful, and how even the little ones know how to stick up for their domain. I watched a flock of little birds, not sure what type but not much bigger than finches, chase a hawk type bird out my neighborhood once cuz he was encroaching on their territory. Funny stuff, actually. 😊

Birds are fiercely loving creatures for the most part, from my limited understanding and observations. My dad showed me when I was young how ground-nesting birds protect their young – if you get too close to the nest while one of the parents is out gathering food, the other parent will act wounded and lead you away from the nest. It will dramatically drag a wing along behind and limp and roll until it has your attention, then fly just a short way off the ground a few feet further away so you or a predator will follow it and leave the babies alone. They will repeat this behavior until everyone is far enough away for the parent’s comfort, then they’ll fly back to the nest and hope you’ve lost interest by then. If not, they’ll start all over. It’s all an act though – nothing is as it appears but we would follow along anyway – humans thinking we can help the bird and predators thinking they get an easy lunch. This however, is deception for a purpose… My dad also showed me what happened when you ignore the parent bird and go look for the nest, and that mama almost got downright nasty.

So I was thinking about “more than meets the eye” and how some birds literally push their babies out of the nest when it’s time to fly. An observer would likely think, “That bird is so cruel! Is it trying to harm all of it’s offspring?”

The babies could be thinking “Mom and Dad don’t love me, they just threw me out of the only world I’ve ever known and I don’t know if I can survive the fall!”

Mom and Dad are thinking, “If these kids don’t get out there now and learn how to fly they may die early! I can’t feed or protect them forever! Sink or swim, son, let’s go! I have faith in you.”

A few summers ago, I got home from work to find a Bluejay losing her ever loving mind in the front yard, hopping from tree to fence to bush, flapping wildly and practically screaming. Another bird, I assumed Dad at the time, kept doing flybys across the yard and was more a shadow out of the corner of my eye. So I asked them what happened – there was a storm the night before and maybe someone fell out of the nest ☹ Apparently someone had – I watched the birds’ patterns and found the baby… poor little thing had fallen into the window well for the basement window and couldn’t fly back out. So I did the human thing – went to help the bird. :D

You would think all hell broke loose. Baby sees me while they’re trying to climb out of the hole and starts squawking fearfully cuz it can’t get away – which freaked Mom out. I didn’t know those birds could get that loud. She starts coming at me, jumping around and trying to get my attention so I’ll follow her away. Dad in the meantime is coming out of nowhere and doing flybys right by my ear and I was anticipating missing a piece of it later if I wasn’t careful. I talked to them, tried to let them know I meant no harm, and thankfully did not have any physical harm come to me or the birds. 😊

Baby did attack, as expected, when I reached down in the hole … I know it sounds a little weird but watching the little ones try to be ferocious is an endless source of amusement for me lol. Anyway, little dude tried to peck at me, screamed for Mom and Dad, and their little heart was going way too fast when I picked them up. So I sent some love, petted Baby a little and talked them down as I was walking across the yard. I took it to where Mom had landed most often in her frustration, even though I knew the nest was in the backyard, and put the baby down. Mom and Dad were both like “Okay, you did your part, you can leave now” lol – at least it appeared that way in the way they moved.

Now it’s possible, since Baby couldn’t fly, that the neighborhood strays may have had a good snack. With the way Mom and Dad guided Baby back to the backyard while still keeping an eye on me – I highly doubt the cats got it. Baby looked happy and healthy, hopping along the way and singing, following along behind Mom and Dad. I didn’t always have a good opinion of Bluejays honestly, but I learned something that day for sure.

I can absolutely imagine – and I’m not sure if it’s factual or not, but I can imagine – that that same set of birds would kick the rest of the babies out in another day or two when they were okay to fly. Not because they didn’t want the babies anymore, and not because there wasn’t enough room, but because the babies won’t survive if they can’t fend for themselves. It is absolute love that gets those babies booted – if you want to look at it that way <3

What was my point …. ? Oh, yeah…

In my dream, I revisited some old friends – like way back when – interactions that ended badly because of misperceptions and preconceived notions. ☹ Things that were believed to be one way, but no conversation was ever had to determine if that was truth or perception. In 99% of the scenarios – the reasons were misperceptions “why is Mom and Dad trying to throw me out?” At least in this dream, I did find a little closure with my old friends before I woke up 😊

With the birds, I wonder if they converse or if they just understand eventually, that it wasn’t good or bad, this is just the way life is? That sometimes letting one go is the best way to help them fly?

Your challenge for today, should you choose to accept it, is to take a look at the world around you – your daily life, people you interact with, whatever comes to mind – and pick one situation and examine it. Take a step back – is there something going on that is beyond what is immediately understandable? (And remember friends, there is no good or bad – only perception….) Is there something that may be misperceived or misunderstood that could strengthen or boost this situation if resolved? What steps can you take to clear the air (again, not good or bad 😊)?

It is completely safe, in most situations, to say “Mom and Dad, why do I have to leave the nest?” the same as it is to ask a friend “am I perceiving this correctly? Help me understand.”

If you are not comfortable asking these questions, it may be a good idea to ask yourself why. What things are holding me back from gaining clarity and comfort? What do I hope to gain by silence? Or… what do I stand to lose by speaking?

I hope you all have an absolutely fantastic day! Please remember to take care of you always, and that you are the most worthy of your love, before anyone else. Protect yourself as fiercely as those birds protect each other <3 then spread that love to others. It is worth it. <3 All my love, Myria