I do not recall of watching earlier a Woodpecker moving backwards in a descending motion ! It moved sideways in a zig-zag fashion to move downwards. Its body looked couched during this movement. It did not look like a sliding movement but a planned move.
I wish it had done it once more for me to have been ready to capture this fascinating sight in a video.
To let go of the grip while perched precariously on the coconut palm was what the woodpecker did.
To let go did mean being vulnerable to fall of the stem!
No movement forward or backward can take place without letting go!
To move from being in a secure position is not a common human instinct. To reinforce the secure position is the natural instinct.
I felt that it was easy for a Woodpecker to do so because it has its wings to fly back to safety if it lost its grip during this descending movement.
The descending movement is bringing it closer to the ground. I kept pondering over this for a while! From a flight of imagination or a fantasy of possibilities, one needs to move to be well grounded in the current realities.
For me in the seventh decade of life, living would mean forward and backward movements. The message that came to me during this reflection was from Psalm 131: 'O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul..'!
This passage calls for movement towards being real and present to what is ordinary and possible!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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