One way of sensing the environment which some birds resort is to be perched at a height and get a glimpse of all that is around. I suppose the different body movements of this Barbets conveyed that habit.
Our garden is usually visited by local birds who make the garden in their flight path on most days.
However each day is different for them.
They are not followers of a routine.
The above Barbet is one among about five Barbets who visit the garden fairly regularly. These regular visitors claim a territorial right by coming to perch in the same site on most days. I notices on a few occasions a Myna leaving its perch when a Barbet flies in to perch.
It is this behaviour that I view with considerable interest.
The avian attitude of regardful behaviour ! This is one way of creating space for others.
Anna and I happened to hear a nurse talk about her attempt to create space for a patient in psychosis. He comes in to the therapy room often agitated and reactively. When he is offered colouring materials he settles down to draw, colour and paint. While watching some of his creations, I noticed one drawing of three pictures- one of a high tide in the sea, another of regular waves and another of a still water. That truly represented his inner ambience. This nurse was able to sense his mood swings and create space to express the emotions candidly. Expressing his interior milieu is catharsis for that person.
We need physical, social and emotional space. The Barbet bird above created that space for itself.
I wonder whether that is common for many when they live occupied and pre-occupied. In a conversation I was asking a group if it was possible to create a three minute private space, five times in a day to return to ourselves to feel anchored in our inwardness!
If our inward space is a restful then that can overflow into our conscious being to stay with that interior milieu while doing the usual work. The inner ground of our being is the space where we can experience God's presence, where love, grace and hope abide.
The prophet Isaiah made this clear in his message: 'In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength' (I saith 30:15).
Watching the Barbet perched in its still composure in an alert state offered me a call for reflective presence!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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