Another level of being!

I recollect watching this Bulbul feeding on red chilly in our garden a few weeks ago! 

It took a bite first and subsequently plucked the remaining of the chilly!

Its waiting pose, while looking at the chilly intrigued me! It was not in a hurry! It is the habit of Bulbuls to pause in between feeds. 

I found this as a reflective path to practice!

Take pauses to return to be in touch with oneself! Such a self regulation from within is a way of living and acting, guided from within. 

This pondering habit is what protects us from mindless impulsive responses or actions. 

The habit of living and acting, by being centred in conscious awareness is the step towards living wisely and soberly!

This habit enables a person to live soulfully, rather than rationally! In  a Chess game one lets go of a piece or two, seeing the larger picture beyond that! That is a well thought out approach. The interior language of reason is one resource for us. Another resource is the accumulated wisdom,  which we can access by discerning the situation from a deeper level of consciousness and insight! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A silent gloomy walk!

I noticed an elderly couple on a morning walk in a hospital campus, silent and looking gloomy! I stayed watching their walk because their body language conveyed the heaviness they were carrying!

The sun was shining on them from behind!

A mango tree beside them was with its tender leaves announcing the season of its bloom. 

A Eurasian tree sparrow with one leg on the ground, was watching the couple pass by and kept gazing at them for a while. 

This scene stayed with me during the day about the journey in life most people encounter at some time or other!

The experience of illness is a difficult season in one's life! 

The sparrow with one leg seemed to notice the couple and visually followed them!

I was intrigued by the sparrow's searching look! All that it could do was to stay watching the elderly couple with attention. It offered its gift of looking to see !

It became a silent message to me!

Looking to see!

Seeing is a prelude to feeling!

It is when we allow ourselves to feel, we enter the next inner experience of being moved!

Those who are moved are the ones who respond to care!

Was the sparrow injured that lost one leg? Or was the leg folded under its body. I do not know. 

This added to the mystery of that road side scene! If it  was an injured sparrow, then, it symbolised a behaviour of mindfulness even when hurt! Some withdraw to be self absorbed when hurt! But this sparrow was attentive to look and see, while staying hurt with a loss of a limb!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Alone or together!

The above sights during a morning walk fascinated me, while I was visiting a hill station. 

A cock and hen were on the morning stroll to find feed from beneath the leaves on the ground. 

I tracked an Eurasian tree sparrow, initially perched on a roof top, reaching a water pipe and drinking from a small pool of water on the ground and later moving to the dry ground to find its feed. 

I found many nests made by weaver ants on the tree top giving an overview of the spectrum of life inhabiting  this wooded area. 

Amidst the tensions between nations that got escalated since the new president of the United States of America has been in the office during the last two months, it was good to see these sights, where life is lived in its usual way indicative of peace and tranquil the birds experience. They find their provisions for each day from the giving earth. 

The urge some nations like, the USA, Russia and Israel communicate is to 'dominate' the earth by being aggressive and ambitious territorially!

Against this background, to see these birds quietly living their lives and receiving food and water from the giving earth, became a message of hope and affirmation of the only reality that sustains life on earth. Live by giving and receiving, and not by grabbing and hoarding!

It was while listening to a family yesterday, I got more close to this reality of life. A child who is developmentally challenged, is cared by a care giver most of the day, as both parents work long hours outside the home. The parents feel helpless with limited options to involve more in the life of their son. I found the conversation disturbing. We live amidst people who stay at their cross road, lost and weary! 

Such would be the stories of thousands of people on account of helplessness to move on!

Why is that those in positions of responsibility do not turn their attention to people in need and direct the ethos of the society to  mindfulness, consideration and proactive thoughtfulness towards people finding the going too difficult on their own!

I take home a message from the birds above, that life is about living in our situations taking small steps to fend for ourselves! While doing so, live mindfully of others for whom life has become burdensome. 

The cock in the picture below was helping and guiding the hen to find its feed! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Living close to ourselves!

The flowers above in our garden seem to thrive in the summer heat of the day. They have something in them that enable to overcome the stress caused by high temperature and humidity!

The photos of the flowers below show signs of 'burnt out' in different ways, two with the edges of the petals rolling up, three of them showing signs of the petals turning brown and the last photo showing a droopy state! 

I happened to listen to a friend a few days ago, who shared some of the difficulties that he was going through due to sickness, children facing challenges and demands at work. He wondered, 'I hope I am not slipping into a burnt out stage'!

It was following that conversation, I associated the flowers showing signs of heat exhaustion metaphorically to a state of 'burnt out' state. 

The effects of difficulties we face at work place, in family life and  relationships do leave us with a silent turbulence within, with questions and reactions. They become 'weighty' and settle down in our inner orientation as a burden. It becomes a feeling of gloom or anxiety which would be the early stage of the 'burnt out' state with a feeling exhaustion or lack of energy or interest to engage in the usual activities. . 

The rose flowers which endured the heat had shade for part of the day protecting them from the day long sunlight. 

The orchid above was in the shade all the day that it survived the harmful effect of the heat of the day. 

The feeling of "burnt out' is a real state psycho-behaviourally that a prompt corrective measure is needed to feel relieved and to overcome the  inner ambience of heaviness and loss of vigour or enthusiasm!

A regular de-briefing of personal recollections to identify the stress- giving pathway and consciously unburdening oneself with personal upbuilding activities of rest, relaxation and reaffirming the inner composure to restore wellness will be needed. Often conversation with a confidant will be needed to feel cared for and to receive protection from a lonely feeling. The internal personal conversation, conversation with a confidant and conversation in prayer are pathways for recovery! 

The preventive and protective steps to endure stress and yet feel well is  the life line for people in situations when situations are more demanding than anticipated. Most of us have a threshold of resilience and endurance. It is when the burdens grow larger than the coping level, the early signs of 'burnt out' experiences set in. 

I find monitoring the wellness  by using helpful questionnaires every three to four months, aa a useful way to have an audit of my interior state. 

If friends with whom we are in touch can alert us when we act or behave differently from the usual, it can help us to take protective measures on time, before slipping into a state of  exhaustion emotionally! 

It is normal to encounter 'burnt out ' experience. It can give us an opportunity to grow into a greater level of emotional resilience. It reveals to ourselves the vulnerability and risk state we might encounter! That sense of awareness prepares us to protect ourselves and work on restoring emotional wellness and interior comfort level!

The need is to live intimate with ourselves to know the interior canvas of our life and respond thoughtfully and attentively to our different needs. 

The peace of well being is the symbol that the flower bunch below conveyed to me while reflecting!

M.C. Mathew. (Text and photo)

 

The calling to live for others!

One gain while walking in the garden is to watch and experience new beginnings in the plants. The vibrant colours and exuberance of the beginnings are evident in the colourful leaves and bring hope.

The phots below give a mixed  message of the beginning, their life span and the last phase of life. The flowers fade and the petals fall off into the soil that nourished their life so far. 

This tree with  the drying branches below makes an announcement of its impending transition to its closure of life!

 

The  biography of plants, flowers and a tree from their  beginning to the end can often be seen in every garden. 

What brought cheer and consolation during the walk in the garden was a sense of gratefulness for the gift of life! The trees, plants, and flowers bring their gift to the garden. The roots of the trees and plants receive their nourishment from the soil and bring the abundance of life through the growing process. 

I wondered whether people on earth receive that form of nourishment to live and bloom. The human society is the nourishing medium for sustaining life on earth. 

Has the society become exploitative with some people thriving at the expense of others!

The head of a charitable organisation mentioned to me that the tendency in the recent years is a traction towards affluent life style which alters the attitude of giving and sharing!

The giving and caring attitude is the soul of a society. How much we are neighbourly in our thought and deed is what matters during our life span on the earth. 

The news of war and war mongering is in the air in the recent months! It is a sign of societal distress! It is a behaviour towards possessing more and giving less!

The plants, trees, and flowers left with me a message that the vocation of living to give to make others experience wellness in their lives!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The Body language!

I have a about forty photographs of this pair of Bulbuls, while they were perched for about three minutes in our courtyard. 

The above photos summarise the different body postures of this pair as they were at this flight station, at day break processing the sights and sounds. 

It gave me a sense of the presence they practice by processing the environment!

The presence of awareness!

Not the presence of distance but proximity to the immediate environment to plan their next flight move!

They feel guided as they process and choose!

The silent pauses they practice in between their hopping flights make us realise how they are externally aware and inwardly ready to respond!

The inward readiness to listen, consider and respond!

Listening and seeing with alertness and responsiveness- a way these birds live and move!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

From looking to beholding!

Each of the photograph above of flowers and a plant has something that stands out when closely observed! 

The first has its biography of earlier flowers, current flower, a bud waiting to pen and buds in formation. It carries a generational history. 

It has a spider hiding on the flower that is withering. 

The second is a plant with spurting leaves and a bud in the centre withe the dew of the night giving a decorated look to the leaves. The leaves themselves look colourful and gorgeous in the morning sunshine. 

The third photo of a jasmine bunch of buds with one flower about to open gives a surprising colour contrast. The flower in a white complexion and the buds in another shade of white. 

Anna tells me that with only few birds visiting our garden in the recent weeks, I seem to spend more time with plants and flowers. That is probably true. May be it brings a new understanding about the richness in plants and flowers. 

Even leaves have a durable look in the morning sun! The photo below fascinated me because the hue of colours in the leaves before the colour contrast would become distinct in few days, gave me an exposure to the transitions in the morphology and colours that take place in plants. They occur unnoticed often.

I felt refreshed by these sights because what happens around us in the plant life are so rich and inspirational. What is not large or obvious does not get noticed unless one is intentional to observe. 

The plants communicate as much as birds through their silent presence, hue of colours and nourishing life they bring to bees and butterflies !

The design on these leaves held my attention. What a sight of amazement! It was when I used a magnifying glass, I got to see the intimate designs on the leaf with the edge of leaf looking sharp giving it its shape. 

I feel that a sense of wonder and amazement was what I needed to feel lifted up to behold nature through another optic of openness! 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)