One recently developed interest for me has been watching bird behaviours immediately after the rain has ceased, and bird movements are about to start.
Some birds who found their shelter in the foliage of trees in our garden come out to perch in bare trees hoping to receive the sunshine on their wet body.
There is a family about ten jungle Babblers who are residents in our garden. I noticed three of them a few days back in the tree in our front garden sunbathing and grooming after the rain. I presume that with their body wet and heavy, flight movements are restricted till they dry their body. A ritual of twenty minutes to go through this ritual of grooming fascinated me. They searched every part of their body with their beaks and fluffed their feathers repeatedly to dry them.
The birds remain aware of their body and attend to remain flight ready!
This springs from a sense of awareness to remain well.
I have a suspicion that men and women give precedence to indulgent pleasure to wellness in their body, mind and spirit.
While walking back home from our village shopping area, I noticed the final touches being given to a large building. I was told that it is a bar and restaurant facility. Being on the high way, it is likely to be financially successful.
The man who spoke to me about this also added a comment which disturbed me. He said, that social drinking of alcohol starts from teenage years. According to him all the fifteen adult neighbours he has are regular alcohol users. Ten of them are under treatment for chronic effects of alcohol use. He asked me a question: Why are we creating more bars even in villages! He answered it with a disturbing comment: This is the way we rationalise alcohol use and justify it as an acceptable social practice.
This conversation was after the garden scene of the Babblers attending to their wellness of the body by grooming to be flight ready!
How are we to be ready to live well!
By being aware of wellness in our body! This is not what is highlighted in our society! Instead, live indulgently and pursue pleasure!
We need a counter narrative.
The Roseto effect, based on the observations by Dr Stuart Wolf and his colleagues made of Italian migrants in the USA, living in Roseto in the Eastern Pennsylvania, have longer life span without heart ailments even after 65 years. They are a close knit community, who lived relationally and having a social life of neighbourhood relationships where three or four generations shared their lives vibrantly and interactively. Alcohol abuse was unheard of in their community. People lived stress free. They lived mindfully of others. Malcom Gladwell in his book, Outliers suggested that the 'high quality of interpersonal relationships was the reason for Rosetan's long and happy life'.
In the book, The Power of Meaning, by Emily Esfahani Smith, introduced the theme of meaningful living, 'corresponding with being a 'giver' and its defining feature was connecting and contributing to something beyond oneself' (p15). 'What was surprising, however was that the pursuit of happiness was linked to selfish behaviour-being a taker rather than a giver'.
The step towards wellness starts with awareness of ourselves growing into becoming aware of others.
The wet Babblers were aware of their need to groom their body; the Rosetans lived aware of their neighbours- both focussed on wellness, by attending to themselves first and going beyond to be givers!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
Very thought-provoking observations as always. Thanks for referencing to books that are worth reading.
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