Preparation for movement!

I watched this Barbet prepare its next flight path and the destination. As it was a flight from the top of a tree to its bottom, it was a short flight. However all the movements in the first six photos tell us about the process which makes a Barbet flight ready. Every movement in air is well planned and timed. 

Anna and I are in a phase when we feel, we too are in a state  of movement to a 'retired' living, preparing ourselves to find another pace, purpose and content to our lives.

What would this mean to us! Flying is an instinct and habit of all birds. It is to find the feed most birds move about. The movement is also for the pleasure of flying. It is the flying which makes the birds live 'airworthy'. 

For humans, activity is akin to flying. Woking is the normal instinct and habit of all of us. At the retiring years with advancing age, the pace and intensity of activity gradually change to keep abreast with the body rhythm and mind strength. 

More than all these, what retiring years bring into the agenda of living is to be more mindful of others and the environment.  Having done all that was possible during the working years, the retiring years are to be for bringing a benediction to the lives of others. Th focus of working years would have been seeking for fulfilment, prospects, promotion, success and acknowledgement.  

In the retirement years, life can be a stream, overflowing to others from the abundance of life well-lived. It is during this period many people volunteer to help, care, serve and promote the interests of others. Others come into the agenda of living. There are some who turn retirement years to live leisurely, travelling as tourists or living to celebrate life for personal fulfilment. That too has a purpose provided it is only to stay rejuvenated and not an end in itself.  

As for Anna and myself, the question of what we shall be, is alive and we shall soon begin a phase of living at a different pace, ready to be companions and co-travellers with others. 

Barbet's vigilance and intense search of its flight path tells us that this transition would need greater vigilance than all other seasons in life. The time to conduct a detour or to begin all over again in case of a faulty start, is not always in our favour. 

I wish those who know us and access this blog will share their thoughts with us, on this question, 'What can we be in the retiring years'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)