A beginning!

A school invited the department where I work, to conduct a workshop for teachers to create an awareness about children who have learning related needs in a class room! They were teachers and volunteers!

I have been used to this form engagement with teachers at schools at Chennai and Vellore earlier. It is the first time, this happens at Kolenchery. 

What encourages me about this is that this school is getting ready to establish a resource room for children who need help in the regular class room and is even ready to plan for  a new stream of learning for children who need a modified class room environment. 

It is happening at a time, when I visit the Bangalore Baptist Hospital once a month to support them to start a child development centre and an early learning centre for developmentally challenged children. The hospital has a plan to link this with the local schools as well. 

I have often dreamt of connecting child health departments in hospitals with local schools to support children who have  medical needs because of which their learning gets compromised. 

I heard from a family that their daughter missed thirty seven days in school year due to upper respiratory infections, each time for three or four days. Following their decision to treat her for vitamin D deficiency, provide pneumococcal vaccination, oral penicillin prophylaxis for three months and use of a nasal anti-allergic spray, the frequency of respiratory infection dropped to just one in six months. She did not miss the school any day in those six months. 

I wish there would be collaboration between teachers and medical team in an active and cordial way so that children feel supported to enjoy schooling and class room activities!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Flower and fruits !

Following the pre-monsoon rain the garden in our cottage looks fresh and inviting. 

I meditate on this theme once again!

It is one flower and one black pepper plant in a large garden of about an acre. It blooms where they are planted. 

Yesterday a friend dropped in to say that he is planning to support  ached through his education, as the family has no earning member to do so.

It is about one person and one child, but it is still a symbol of caring!

During the recent election season, I have noticed mass of people in the election rallies. Think of the impact of each of them would leave behind if they were to do something altruistic for the neighbours!

I meet with parents who talk to me with their wet eyes about all that they go through when their child is developmentally struggling. 

I have often wondered whether there are volunteers who form a neighbourhood community to be a friend to those who go through the travails of life!

One is not small or trivial. Just one person alone can make a difference. 

I came across a person in the coffee bar, who springs a smile when anyone comes to buy coffee. While talking to that person, I understood how this person thinks of the other person while serving coffee!

Think of the other person next to us! 

M.C.Mathew(photo and text)

Butter cups and Honey bees !

The butter cups in our garden open forma bout 8 in the morning till about 11. Honey bees thrive on this honey.

One interesting thing is that honey bees do not seem to compete between themselves. They do fly in and out. Usually only one will be found on one flower. 

There is enough honey for every bee. 

This to me is distributive justice. While we find our resources, we can let others find theirs and prosper! Sometimes, we can live preoccupied with others and their achievements and loose sight of the opportunity we have to find our own space to prosper. 

To be content with enough for ourselves and sparing the rest for others is a difficult orientation in a competitive and acquisitive culture!

However, a better way of living is to see fellow beings as fraternal beings! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Plentiful !

Since this papaya plant in our garden bearing fruit about six months back, there has been to time it was without flowers and new fruits. It grows and gives plenty of fruits. 

As I have entered the seventh decade in my life, I have often reflected on this way of living! As I grow older do I live more vicariously and generously towards others. 

A family whom I met after a gap of 12 years brought some encouragement. They conversed about the earlier associations we have had. They cared to visit while passing by. It was an act of kindness profoundly significant and revealing. 

I wondered whether I have withdrawn from being generous! 

During a recent gathering, few people with with whom I had lot to do for a few years, avoided greeting Anna and myself on account of some differences of opinion that had surfaced on policy matters of that institution. I too could not travel a second mile journey to greet them! This has been heavy on my heart since then. 

It is for this reason the papaya plant becomes a pointer and symbol to me. The only worthwhile way of being and living is by bearing fruits whether it rains or not!

I have a list of about 150 people to whom I intend to write to share my greetings and regards in connection with my seventieth birthday. Having written to about half of them, I sense how enlarging and growing an experience it has been! We grow only when we bring others into our orbit of consciousness !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Rain drops

The raindrops settle on surfaces differently. 

The raindrops acquire different shapes and sizes close to each other on a glass surface of the car. The second photo is of the raindrops on the painted surface of the car, which IS distinctly different in appearance. 

It caught my attention as how different surfaces receive the raindrops!

There is an emotional milieu in each of us, which determines how we receive words and thoughts into our consciousness!

I have been growing in greater consciousness about this reality of late. 

During the recent national election season, I sensed that leaders spoke publicly unmindful of the way they might be received. There was an abusive language in the public space, which to me was an embarrassment, as they were the frequent utterances from leaders of high standing. 

It is the same we watch in the TV dialogues. I feel disturbed that the anchors give leadership to such a practice of speech that jar in the listener's ears!

What is life and living, if we live without this awareness of how what we say fall in the listener's ears!

Even the the criticism we make of others can be turned into upbuilding others. That is how we demonstrate our 'neighbour friendly attitude' to others. 

Every time I hear the words of parents describing the 'undesirable' behaviour of their children at home or school, I sense an harshness, rather than sympathy! How I wish that parents would care to consider that the so called undesirable behaviour of children might be a defence process of children to survive in adverse circumstances! 

What might be acceptable to one child, might not be so for another child. So conversations and corrections ought to be formed corresponding to the temperament and coping skills of children.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

  

All from a nurturing soil !

Some trees hold your attention because fo their tall stature and spreading out to provide a canopy of shade ! It is the stem from which all branches are formed. Of course such trees might have years of history!

 A tree grows because of the soil. It is rooted in the earth. It receives its nourishment from the air and the soil. The tree is the product of nurture!

I continue to reflect on this as I hear stories of children who are denied of this nature at home, school and in society. 

I have a suspicion that some adults, parents and teachers have an attitude to subdue children to control and restrain them. 

The two poems that came to my attention yesterday were: 'His name is Today' by Gabriela Mistral and 'Your children are not your own' by Kahlil Gibran, both of which talk about the nurture that children deserve today for their tomorrow.

and yet, ' They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you, but not from you. And though they are with you yet they do not belong to you..'

It is a blessing to be in a nurturing role towards children and yet regarding them as those destined for an 'eternity' beyond our aspiration, expectation or control. 

You nurture a child, and he or she shall become like the tree in the photo above !

This is a message for parents, grandparents and teachers! Have a vision for children beyond our longing!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Leaves, Flower, Fruits !

A garden has leaves, flowers and fruits. 

When I watch our garden form the veranda of our cottage, I find myself at a loss thinking about, how with least of attention this cycle continues in nature. 

This story in nature is refreshingly inspiring because, it is a symbol of the abundance all around us. Humans receive all these gifts because of which we are sustained. 

Nature gives and gives...

It gives us a bounty of goodness. 

Yesterday, some of us from the department where I work, had an opportunity to visit a school and spend sometime with the teachers of the kindergarten. I was amazingly refreshed by the 'giving' attitude of the teachers. While discussing to design a child friendly class room for the first timers at school, I felt carried away by their enthusiasm to create an inviting class room for the four years old children. 

It is in giving we receive. The little we give has the prospects to multiply. The more we give, the more we receive! 

The repair and reconstruction continued in our property since the floods in September 2018. The last batch of workmen finished their work yesterday.  They restored the property well. I felt that most of them just did not work for their wages, but for restoring the property! They thought beyond their wages.  

To grow in goodness and self-giving attitude is a calling to live by! 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Alone and lonely!

Most of the birds I sight while walking in our garden are in pairs as this is the mating season for most of them. 

But I find single birds occasionally. 

The single birds in the photo above might have been left behind! I did not find this bird playful or ho around as most small birds do. I could not hear any of its birdsongs. 

It is one thing to be alone and yet another thing to feel lonely!

Is not loneliness a big modern day calamity!  

I think about it a lot as to feel lonely is more common than art it used to be in the past. The 'race to live' which is often referred to as 'rat race' is stressful and disturbing experience for many. Even when all the needs and comforts surround people, the feeling of loneliness can linger on!

The feeling of loneliness is a psychological frame of the mind often created by a temperament, attitude or choice! 

In fact it might be the exceptional people of abilities who might feel this the most. They might not find thought companies or dialogue partners. 

I have had my experience of loneliness for a long season last year. Following a stressful experience while being involved in the governing body of an organisation, I felt alienated by others. They were people whom I had known for fifteen years or more and had a lot of friendly engagements till then. At one point, I felt excluded because I felt contrary to what most of them felt about few crucial issues. When I left the governing board when it was no more possible to reconcile to the situation, I felt an heaviness of 'rejection' falling on me. 

During a recent visit to that institution, few of them happened to be in a gathering and they avoided to greet me!   

Let me suggest that the pain of loneliness is real! It might not even leave you! But while facing such loneliness, one can turn that experience into creative responses to redeem the occasion to feel enriched and enlarged. One grows in tolerance, acceptance and forgiveness, and sees others as potential companions. Even when others do not respond to being companions, it is necessary to see others who take time to resolve their attitudes, as those in a common journey of life with us! 

We can welcome others into our lives even when they may not be ready to be welcoming.  

Think of others graciously and thoughtfully. They need our gentle approach even when they withdraw or unsettle us by their attitudes and opinions. 

Our inmost being can never be a lonely place, because God abides within us giving us the companionship of hope, comfort and inspiration!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A summer splash in a safe environment!

Anna and I visited an entertainment park close to our home when a family visited us recently. There are different water sports for children and adults. 

One of them was this rail car travelling to a height with people inside and slide down into a pool of water with a thud and splash of water all around and fully getting wet!

For about five hours we were in the park, all the water sports arena brimmed with young and old alike     participating enthusiastically. 

On a day when the temperature was soaring to 43 degree celsius, it was a welcome change for all of them. 

What stayed with me after the visit to this theme park was the enormous facilities created for the visitors and how safety and comfort are well looked into. The whole facility looked child friendly and safe for children as well. 

Let me suggest this: the greatest challenge to our planners and designers of smart cities in india is to offer high standards of safety for all, particularly for children!

In the hospital where I work, I went around yesterday to look if all the railing along the stair cases are safe for children. To my surprise, I was shocked to find them otherwise. 

When the Maternal and Child health building in CMC Hospital, Vellore was built in the centenary year of the hospital, I remember experiencing a stiff resistance form the architects to reduce the distance between the vertical rods of the railing from 9 inches to 4 inches for the sake of safety for children. If the director had not supported that change, the six floor building would have had a safety risk for children. 

This dawned on me following an ugly experience. The child development centre of ASHIRVAD, where Anna and I began our clinical work in Chennai in 1983 was located in a double storied building. The consultation room was on the first floor with an open space infront of the room leading to the stair case. One day a two year child slipped between the vertical rods of the stair case railing and fell down from a height of eight feet. Fortunately child escaped unhurt. That same evening we got the railing covered with wire netting to make it child proof and changed the consultation room to a room in the ground floor. 

Since then, I inspect the stair case railings whenever I visit a multistories buildings and leave a comment in the visitor's book, if there is one, with a request to make the railings child proof.   

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A welcome sign!

I really wish and desperately hope that the alcohol consumption would come down and many would abstain from alcohol use! I have a suspicion that social drinking is a common practice in 'god's own country'! When we went for a wedding reception, alcohol was in the menu. Who was gravitating to that corner. Young people: students, most of them teenagers!

The single factor that I come across in my conversations with mothers and wives,  which  damages the family ambience, is alcohol overuse by men! It is a habit which damages relationships and disturbs the harmony auto home.

I wish moe voluntary organisations would take a lead to redeem people from this non-communicable disease !

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

A creative garden art!

The stem of a tree near to the ground was preserved by this artistic design. The trunk is covered all around by earth and the grass is grown around it. It looks elegant and visually appealing!

An amazing way of making something ordinary to look extra-ordinary!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Punishment for conducting abortion!

According to the roped  new legislation, a professional can get jailed for 10 to 99 years!

Is legislation a way forward for 'pro-life' public behaviour!

Is it not more of a moral issue, that a person has to choose!

Anything forced upon others is likely to create adverse reaction!

M,\.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Mango trees on the road side!

I confess that I get distracted while driving on the road by mango fruits hanging on mango trees. During a recent road travel of 570 kilometres, I counted about thirty varieties! There are road side shops near mango groves selling the fruits. One shop had thirty seven varieties. The shop keeper told me that every year new saplings get added through genetic engineering through the research activities of some outstanding agricultural scientists. 

Thanks to the improving cold storage system, mangoes are sold in the market from March to October.  In fact the first grade mango fruits get exported to middle eastern countries. We end up getting the second or third quality in the regular Indian market.

 A farm is complete only when there are mango trees with fruits. So this season brings many bird visitors to the mango trees. A mango tree on the road sides give yield year after year with none tending it. So mango tree is a self giving tree even when not cared for! The tree drops the fruit to the ground when it is fully ripe. So we get the fruit without any effort!

Some things in nature are profoundly symbolic in its meaning and appeal!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

An evening sight!

I watched this waterbird fly high into the sky one evening. I followed its flight path as much as it was visible through the telephoto lens. 

What fascinated me was its outstretched wings in slow motion moving up and down. It looked least effortful. Its body was suspended between its wings. Its legs fully extended and the neck slightly bent forward. It is its usual and conditioned flight style. That is how it flies negotiating the air currents at a height. 

All of us have our personal style of living, relating, and interacting. 

A friend who telephoned me yesterday told me that, 'You have a way of speaking on telephone'! That is when it dawned on me that each of us has our own way of doing everything, which might be different from how others do the same thing. 

The differences do not define which is right or wrong, but create a diversity to appreciate the unique ways we have learned to do different things or relate. 

This calls for growing in appreciation for others and their way of doing things. This frees us from a critical outlook to being appreciative. 

Even an audit of work performance can be done through an appreciative appraisal. 

Let others be themselves! Whenever possible allow the individual styles and patterns be creatively channeled to affirm a person's unique way of doing things for the good of others. 

During the painting of our cottage recently, all the four painters had different strokes and each of them had a similar output of good and aesthetic finish! So what does it matter if they had different strokes as long as they followed all the good practices of painting! But there are times individual ways ought to be subject to general guidelines such as while driving an automobile on the road. 

An individual is unique. Let the differences in our temperament and behaviour become a confluence of diversity bringing the consciousness of significance of each person!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Perception and truth!

I was taken a back by this bird without one of its legs. It stayed on being on its one leg for a while. I was about four hundred meters away from this bird and had to depend on the telephoto lens to ascertain whether one of his limbs was amputated. My mind kept wandering over the possible accidents the bird would have suffered from from its flights or habitat. 

It took a few minutes for the bird to extend its flexed limb, which appeared earlier as an amputated limb. It was back on both its limbs and singing its bird song. 

I believed that the bird had an amputated limb for a few minutes. That is how I perceived it through my telephoto lens.

I suffered from two distortions. I was at a distance and did not have a 360 degree view of the bird. 

I walked back home from the farm carrying this insightful discovery of this morning: many things, events, feelings, sights, tales...etc. have perceptual and truthful dimensions. I realised how I live in the perceptual dimension sometimes without being patient and pursuant to go beyond to discover the truth which lies beyond the perception. This is a crucial and critical defining dimension in all relationships. 

I have recollected some instances in the recent past, how when I was willing to leave behind the perceptions, the truth liberated me from suspicion, anger or fear. 

It is 'truth that shall set you free', according to Jesus of Nazareth. 

A domestic helper who behaved in a truant way, was slipping into substance abuse. I perceived him to be irresponsible. But he was getting addicted to overcome his personal upheaval on account of stress and discord. So that changed my perception from being angry to being thoughtful and supportive. 

Let us verify whether our perceptions are truthful! It calls for greater attention and scrutiny of our belief practices. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A load for the cattle!

I see this sight often in front of our cottage. Few families living close to us have cows and goats. During the day they graze in the field. For the night they are provided grass, which is what this man was carrying home.  He would do this almost everyday. 

It is a lot that he carries on his because he cares for the cattle. In return the cows and goats provide milk and manure!

This a reciprocal behaviour. It is as much as the cattle is cared for the farmer receives the benefit. 

We cannot be just receivers alone; we need to be providers also, which is the only way we keep the cycle of reciprocal behaviour at the heart of our relationships. Some of us are habitual ‘takers’ and some others ‘givers’. But life is lived fully only when we are both. However some prefer to ‘receive’ without wanting to take. There are some stories of such people that surprise because they fill their lives with contentment in whatever circumstances they are placed.

Yesterday an intern dropped in to say 'Hullo' while walking past the department. That refreshed me, because, it was an act of spontaneous kindness and thoughtfulness.

I find this experience as the way forward in a competitive and 'self absorbed' environment. Anna and I visited two of our friends during the week end, who have health challenges ahead of them. At the end of the visits, what stayed with us was a new awareness of their needs and challenges and a desire to keep them in our thoughts. 

It is only as much we bring the needs of others to our consciousness that we grow up to be more humane!

By growing into be more humane is a way of redeeming our social dimension of humanity!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A place for all !

This was an evening scened in the farm beside the stream below our property. Before the dusk falls, all of them are feeding or finding their feed!

Yesterday, I watched in the TV the terrible sight of the violence in Kolkota during an election procession between supporters of two political parties. What disturbed me most was the way the political leaders of the two parties blame each other with neither of them regret for the incident or express concern for those injured or the property damaged !

How terrible it is when we fail to recognise the need of space and freedom for others!

I feel sad to find this 'compulsion' among some political parties to use violence and fear as the way to capture political space. The leader who was at the head of the procession continued his procession even when violence broke out! I wish there was a message and action of restraint.   

I hope we return to the way of 'non-violence' for all our actions and reactions, because that is how Mahatma Gandhi led the nation during the independence struggle!  

I feel distressed at the TV channels playing out the violence scene again and again in their screen shots ! I noticed that some channels avoided this. To me it was an act of thoughtfulness. It is a way of denying attention to violence! 

I have heard some political leaders use a language of soberness even amidst provocation. A political leader who was abused for his family heritage, replied resolutely that he would not refer to any individual and family matters of his opponents  during the campaign.

There is space for all of us. 

Yesterday, during the orientation to the post graduate students who joined the college where I work, one discussion was about doctor-patient relationship. During the role play to highlight this, I felt that the post graduates expressed the need to be mindful of the needs of those who seek medical attention and offer consideration and compassion in the way we welcome them!

That refreshed me! 

Let us create and offer space for others. That is one way we can be 'neighbours' to others.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Flowers in darkness!

I try taking pictures of flowers in darkness.

This one of a bunch of white flowers and buds made me pause and reflect.

In darkness, the leaves are not visible, but the whiteness of the flowers stand out.

This is profound in its significance.

Every good deed done kindly is a contrast to the self seeking culture which is all around.

To me this is a calling to bear the light of goodness and live as a way mark !

To stay doing good and grow in this attitude is an opportunity to be a light for path finders!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Hidden away !

Almost every morning in the recent weeks, I noticed this sun bird perched in the same site ! It is its hiding place. The crows, large birds, squirrel seem to prefer trees with foliage. 

There are times when staying hidden is an inward compulsion. 

I read with immense interest the narration of the experience of forty days and night Jesus of Nazareth spent in the 'desert', after which he was 'tempted'!

There are times, when everything in life recedes to insignificance and the inner urge for solitariness takes over!

What might happen during times of solitude!

It is a time of listening and discernment. 

There is a voice within which transcends reason and logic. Humans created in the image of God has the 'endowment' of godliness within us, which gets subdued or marginalised amidst the crowded events in our lives. 

So all fo us need 'separated' times or set apart times, when we stay tuned inward to sense the reality of God's abiding presence deep within us. 

The experiences of sorrow, fear, anxiety, being let down or ignored create within some turbulence. Even in such times, the reality of God's silent presence in our lives is real although the consciousness of it is faint.

The habit of finding times for inner quietness is a saving grace in our lives, because such times bring us to experience interior stillness springing from an awakened consciousness of God's abiding presence in our lives!

Watching this bird almost every morning is refreshing because it reminds me of the value of seeking for times of quietness even during the working hours  each day.

I find three minutes of silence about five times during the day, creates an inner composure needed to live soberly!

Thank you Sun bird !

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Changing direction !

As I kept watching this Magpie Robin, I noticed it changing its directions a few times. I am not sure whether it was a response to a threat awareness because of a predator somewhere close by or was it searching for its food!

The body language was one of heightened awareness or alertness!

All of us in the department where I work have been looking at our direction since we began seven years ago. The direction we pursued so far did bring some benefits to parents and children who visit us. 

One reality that we face is paucity of professionals and short period of service they are able to offer to us! I remember all of of those who came to be part of the team and had to leave on account of their personal circumstances. Each person was excellent in her skills and commitment! Their leaving us to move on in their lives is a big loss to us ! They leave us with ur blessings and goodwill. 

All of them who have left us, located in different parts of India or overseas still keep in touch with us and inspire us to continue the good work of which they feel to be part of emotionally!

The Robin changed its direction a few times, but it stayed in touch with its environment!

Remember the people amidst whom we are planted to bear fruits! That is one way to let others know that the change in direction in our personal lives for inevitable reasons, is only incidental and relationships remain intact! 

Carry relationships forward even when we change directions or relocate ourselves or follow a new calling in our lives!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

The farm with its bounty!

I wonder whether we take notice of the silently present plants and trees in a farm or garden! Sometimes we return to them at the time of manuring, tending or gathering the fruits.

A tree or a plant is the soul of a farm. They are a home for birds, insects, reptiles, orchids, etc. A tree has its visible part above the earth and an invisible part beneath the earth. The tres and plants live and thrive because they support each other and offer hospitality to each other to let them grow. It is occasional that the trees are 'selfish' to displace another tree of its own species or another species. A garden or a farm is a symbol of 'fraternity'!

As Ann and I walk in the farm and take in all the sights of fruits and nesting birds, we get a sense of the diversity with its the richness and abundance! 

I listened to two families yesterday,  who live 'lonely' lives amidst a crowded neighbourhood! The neighbours belong to another religion, ethnic background or occupation! Think of this terrible state of affairs! During this election season, the differences between people have been referred to by the national leaders that this 'separation' of people from each other got even more apparent!

The earth gives way its produce to everyone alike! It makes no distinction between people. Its bowl of bounty is for everyone. 

The president of the United States of America speaks of a language of 'America for Americans'; the prime minister of India refers to Pakistan as a hostile or terrorist neighbour; the British Prime Minister refers to England for the English and not even for Europeans...

As we hear these 'divisive' language, contrary to the symbol of togetherness that we see in the nature around us, most of us have a sense of grief! 

When Sri Lanka is 'fighting' the aftermath of its terrible Easter terrorist attacks which took away the lives of many and injured a large number,  we get another glimpse of the danger at our door step of human beings becoming enemies of each other. 

As I hear the current Prime Minister of India talks about the other leaders in a mean and defaming way and projects himself as one superior to all others, I get a sense of the 'hate' that he promotes to get a gain for himself!

Oh, that we would see each other as companions and fellow travellers! It is this message that I received after walking in our garden and receive the gifts of the fruits the plants and trees offer to us in plenty! 

Dear Prime minster, as a leader of the nation, are you not a 'servant' of all and not just one political party! If so, why not speak of others more kindly, respectfully and affiirmingy! All of us regard you, but your words make us stay away from you! You make us fearful! As a prime minister you are the only one who can promise freedom from fear! 

Humanity is a garden of people, all of whom are created in the image of God!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

A drooping flower and a hopeful bud !

This flower in our garden suffered during the day with the scorching heat and heavy rain during the night. To see it drooping is not a pleasant sight!

This is a symbol of what happens to most of us! The outer events impact us.

But take a look at the bud about to blossom. It is still holding on!

To stay holding on to the hope of being able to blossom, inspite of the heat and rain ought to be an overarching symbol to live with!

At the beginning of another week, it is a calling to live beyond the turbulent circumstances. 

However adverse might be the circumstance, hope is the anchor to our soul ! 

I am waiting for this bud to blossom. Then I know for sure that it is a survivor!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Watch a bird!

Sight a bird and watch that bird for a while if it stays in your sights!

In watching and following the body language of this bird, I got sense the way a bird is present to itself and the environment. The early morning time for most birds is a time to attend to its body care before they are ready to search for their food. However, as I watched this bird while engaged in its feather care, I noticed its attentiveness to noises and sights around.

It chooses how to respond to what is around.

The 'stillness' is also a response. 

I am fascinated by this stillness and the quietness that proceeds from this. 

The stillness is in its body realm and the quietness is in its inner composure. Both are inherently connected to each other.

There is so much we hear about ourselves, others and events. Each of these can make us feel nervous or unsettled or joyful and fulfilled. It is because we are sensing multi-sensorially all that that happen within  us and around us, we need to still our body to move to the inner realm to receive the quietness that springs because of stillness. 

It is the process prelude to meditation! 

It is when we are able to return to our interior free of all thoughts, the consciousness of God who is present within us brings a larger awareness. It is this habitual practice which makes us live soberly, effectively and altruistically!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)