The way of living from within!

The Bulbuls have a habit to perch on the tallest tree in our garden after feeding at the feeding station before they charter their flight path for the morning. This is a regular feature of sensing and choosing the flight path. It is often with a short chirp, one of them would fly away in one particular direction. The other follows that path soon thereafter. 

The United States of America celebrated its 250th anniversary of its independence on 4th July. The history of that nation, which since then has been an integration of multicultural ethnicities led by eminent presidents, is currently undergoing a change, least expected. In the presidential address to the nation, its current president talked about communism being the threat that USA faces.  The current president is one who has acquired billions of dollars of worth, since he was chosen to be the president, through business deals. Is not capitalism as much as a threat as communism? This president is the one who stopped the active presence of the USA in supporting humanitarian benefits through its generous aids in supporting nations in health care and global initiatives to promote climate related discipline. The current day temperature in certain parts of the USA and Europe exceeded 40 degree celsius. The glacier in the Swiss alpine mountains show fast melting, threatening a climate disaster. 

The Holy father, the Pope Louis appealed to the people of the USA to return to its heritage of 'giving to save' in his address to his fellow Americans. 

In India, we encounter wealth acquisition somehow, as the current pursuit of those in influential positions. The optic of the materiality of some of the world leaders, hurt human formation adversely! 

The spirituality of human life on earth, is living mindful of others knowing that we are co-sojourners in the pursuit of wellness of all. The psychological departure to acquire power and wealth to control, dominate and oppress,  is a cancerous mindset against which, even the peace pacifists find it as a struggle to resist! 

A congregation of a local Church close to where we live, avoided all the festivities of the year and built a house for a homeless person! That caught the imagination of some other congregations of worshippers. The current chief minister of the state of Kerala, has stripped himself of the usual security cover accompanying his travel, and shows a desire to mingle with people physically to greet them in public functions. He seems to follow the spirit of democracy, which in the practice of governance is 'of the people, by the people and for the people'!

The Bulbuls take time to charter their path each day. They follow a purposeful action. They live receiving from the bounty of fruits and seeds! They visit us most days and sing to us with their bird calls. They give what is theirs for others! 

The giving and receiving is the norm in any society! I wonder whether the dominant attitude of many people is turning toward becoming takers! 

The takers justify their action and deny the legitimate rights of others! The nation of Israel in wanting to take control of Gaza seemed to have killed at least twenty thousand children according to an estimate! The takers deny the human foundational value of brotherhood upon the earth! 

Every day when the Bulbuls come to our feeding station and refresh us with the bird calls, Anna and I feel that they are grateful givers in response to what they are given!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Bringing a refreshing touch !

Anna alerted me about the presence of a Sunbird in our front garden, while it was drizzling! That gave me an opportunity to capture some of its movements between flowers for nectar. 

It is a bird that captures our attention because its habits are amazingly aesthetic and swift! Its immaculately groomed body and shiny feathers in all weather conditions stand out. Its movements have a flow and follow the pursuit of a purpose. 

One aspect that strikes me about a Sunbird is its bird calls which are high pitched and musical. Its long and slender neck might have an influence on the tuneful vocalisation of sounds. The short and long calls are distinct and different. The short calls are often between the pair of birds and the long calls are usually heard from solo birds. 

There is a message to ponder upon!

A smaller bird has some unusual features which stand out and make them special. 

I find that consoling. There is something special or unique in each person. For me it is a challenge now as people with whom I relate in our village are mostly older people who are burdened with challenges and burdens of different type. One is the absence of their married children as many migrated to other countries in the last fifteen years.  The senior citizens do not have the younger people to bring the charm of youthfulness to their lives. 

And yet, these senior citizens are active to look out for people who live in disadvantaged situations.The way they are active to visit those who are sick or hospitalised or home bound brings encouragement to many. They conceal their sorrow and turn that into a creative form of caring which sustains them in hope and cheer. 

There are group meetings which they organise among themselves, which keeps them updated on their neighbours and their needs. One recent initiative in which they are engaged is in weaning people from alcohol dependence!

How refreshing it is to hear of such instances when the senior citizens take upon the role of becoming 'elders' in the community!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The avian message!

I watched these Bulbuls in the nutmeg tree grooming after a spell of rain, when they were trenched. They need this regular cleaning and grooming to be flight ready. 

While the Bulbuls were in their grooming ritual to be flight ready, underneath the nutmeg tree, the Sun bird was feeding on the nectar. 

The two rituals of birds !

I listened to a professional group whose daily rhythm was interrupted due to multiple demands and activities. 

Our personal wellness is our responsibility. Every day, while watching visiting birds, I get reminded by their routines and rituals. They visit the same sites during their flight movements in our garden. Those who return to the garden in the evening follow the routine of visiting the flight stations before settling in for the night! 

I have been helped to keep this as a message, they bring each day! There are interruptions and distractions. With the World Cup of football being played mostly in the night in reference to the IST, I listen to people ,who have interrupted sleep. I remind them to catch up with sleep debt by extra hours of sleep during the next two or three days. 

During a group meeting, I was keen to introduce the practice of interior silence for three minutes, three times a day starting with body awareness exercise, as way of returning to be centred and composed. It was during this exercise, I realised as how such exercises do not form the part of personal routine of most professionals! It was when the participants counted the pulse before the three minutes of silence and afterwards, they were awakened to realise how the body too responds favourably at the physiological level by reducing the heart rate following such an exercise. 

The personal wellness is an inner and outer experience ! When we live in a state of wellness, we affirm to ourselves of the treasure  we are to ourselves, our family and people in our orbit! It is the wellness we carry within ourselves which becomes the message of hope to others. 

A senior citizen who is younger than me stopped me on the road a few days ago, when I was returning with bags of provision on both hands. His question was: 'Why don't you use the car while shopping'? For me, the one kilometre of walk each way, is a worthy physical excise and a time to reflect as well as take in sights and scenes in the village. I return from this outing feeling refreshed! It was a good conversation with the senior citizen, who lives depleted of a sense of wellness. He told me that he watches TV most of the time during the day. For a teacher by profession, that sounded as an easy surrender to a poor option of being engaged! 

We bring wellness to our daily living by making changes in our routines! 

The birds wee messengers to me yesterday during the in between dry period, although the sun was hiding behind the clouds! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The colourful way of living!

The colours of nature bring an exuberant look and lift our spirit to feel connected with all that is given to us to cherish !

The plants bring a reminder of the silent presence with their full and free giving! The plants get swayed in the wind and storm; they overcome adverse weather conditions and bring their gifts to humans and others alike. 

The blend of all that is good and rich in nature creates the environment for us to live and celebrate the gift of living. 

I felt moved when a salesman in a supermarket accompanied Anna and  me to the car park yesterday, guiding us through the slippery wet floor and watching over our steps. He waited till we got into the car and moved away! It was his way of making us feel protected and taken care of!

That brought an unusual sense of wellness and care from his part to two strangers. Such is the abundance of human goodness, which when noticed would take us to a new level of living appreciative of the human environment we are part of. 

Most of us are able to show acts of kindness in a conscious way to bring an awareness to people around us, to create a caring ambience. The caring ambience becomes the norm when we act mindfully to help in a similar way that we would have liked to receive help ourselves. 

A garden is a reminder of the fullness of life plants. A society and community of people need such an experience of living in an environment, when human goodness becomes a shared experience where we live attending to the common good. 

A few men were working on the side of a road in the rain to divert the  flow of rain water to allow smooth movement of traffic on the road. When I noticed that they were volunteers from the adjacent shop, it reinforced my thinking that the goodness abides in human hearts.  

The human goodness is what would make our neighbourhood a hospitable place for us to dwell. The five year old boy, who after eating the packet of chips kept the empty packet in his pocket till he reached home to put in the trash bin, was acting out of the human goodness that he acquired from his family! 

We become hospitable and mindful when we regard others worthy of our acts of kindness!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The bird movements !

The Sunbirds used to be noticed in our garden in the mornings and evenings on normal days, moving between flowers to gather nectar. Since the onset of monsoon, they are only occasionally seen. 

It is the nectar which is their attraction and reason for their visits. Now that the rainy season makes the flowers wet, the Sunbirds do not find a reason to visit the garden.

When I spotted the above Sunbird in the foliage all by itself, without any bird calls, I wondered if it is enduring the stressful season well!

The stressors are many for life to have a comfortable rhythm. When I was in the car service station yesterday for about two hours, I observed the movements and conversations of people at work. I wondered if work consumed them and reduced them to be emotionally depleted and physically weary! What was evident was a sense of hurry and not the artful way of working! I sensed a burdened look and low level of enthusiasm. 

It was a conversation with a supervisor, which indicated the reason for such a sterile ambience. The garage has enough work force to attend to twenty cars in a day. Often they are required to take care of thirty cars. The regular car servicing is about four hours. The supervisors are required to 'push' the technicians to work beyond their optimum. The supervisors and the technicians leave for home in the evening drained by the burden of work. 

It brought memories of my work place from where I retired three years ago. It was a place where work offered energy, enthusiasm and sense of belonging. The work space created collegiality which offered refreshing experiences. I went home most days with memories of delightful experiences of the day. The work space created an ambience of encouragement and cheer. 

On my way back home, I had this thought lingering in my mind about the two types of work places. One that enthuses the workmen and the other that drains the workmen! The work place is expected to foster wellness and motivation to be able work at ease and comfort to bring a lively ambience! 

A computer consultant whom I met yesterday, knowing that I was interested in nature photography sent me a few photos he took of vintage cars, which is his area of interest! He worked with a sense of presence and desire to stay connected with those whom he met! I was not yet another customer for him, but a person that he can relate to, for sharing a common interest. We both met for the first time yesterday. But the strangeness got dissolved when he discovered a common interest! 

To be able to see each other relationally is a gift ! The contrast between the ambience in the garage and the computer firm caught my attention. The workmen in the garage seemed to work under pressure and the computer engineer worked with delightful interest in those whom he met! 

I look back at yesterday and draw these observations for further lessons about Life, Living and Learning!

M.CV.Mathew( text and photo)

 

Becoming present with helping hands!

The Flowers at dawn and mid day ! The first two appeared rain soaked at dawn and the third flower at mid day looked dry and radiant!

They are the two different moods of the flowers in the garden during this rainy season. 

I felt disturbed by the shut down of my regular computer after having got used to it for eight years. An attempt to locate one to replace it did not happen even after contacting the different outlets of the apple computers. The prices escalated by about thirty percent last week end and the heavy demand reduced the chance of me able to get one.

I use this mac air now which is now13 years old, which is also failing with photographs having lost the colour richness and the soft ware unable to be updated as apple does not support this model anymore. 

I took time to reflect on the difficulty this experience created. I got engaged in an inner conversation about it which helped me to sense the   thought process that I am used to. 

The rain soaked flowers regain some of the colourfulness at sunrise, although the fragrance is not fully restored!

This is the blend of gain and loss, each of us experiences in our lives in our daily rhythm of life. 

There is a need to stay anchored with faith and hope because life events enrich us in some ways unknown to us when we engage and endure. 

I experienced this with two computer firms out of seven I contacted. Both those firms went out of their way to search for any availability of one in the net work of their shops or affiliated ones. They had alternatives to suggest, although it involved waiting! 

I have calls and messages from people who need some clarification or help or a desire to keep in touch. I felt awakened to the opportunity, such contacts offer to bring a word of encouragement or support ! 

I experienced a new level of consciousness about being sensitive to   the need of others when they call or contact. 

It is when one personally experiences the value of 'helping hands' one is further aroused to be in a similar role to others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

In the fullness of time !

The nutmeg trees in our garden about seventy-five of them give their fruits for harvesting during this season. The months of May, June and July each year are the harvesting season. 

It is also the season for Bulbul birds resident in our garden to become pairs and begin their courtship. This is a time when we look around for their nests to keep a track on their formative journey to become a family.

The becoming of a family is a major life event in the human journey on earth. During a recent discussion with a group of parents, I discovered how the family life is a major experience around which they weave their daily and seasonal events. A family after a holiday discovered that between their children there was so much intimacy, trust and acceptance that the couple felt challenged to have conversation between themselves about the way thy can grow into more trustful and communicative relationship. To hear from the parents how their children inspired them to seek to grow in depth of  between themselves was a heartening message.  

Anna and I had two days of outings in the last two days during which time we had conversations about the way our lives are further evolving and growing to find deeper levels of freshness and openness! 

The language of birds during the courtship is different tonal bird calls. The reciprocity we observe in their communication arising from growing intimacy is a delightful scene to watch. 

A home is a place where children watch the caring ways of parents between themselves. The parents watching the way children are spontaneously caring towards each other can delight them, which is  the fruit of their self giving as parents. 

For Anna and me while we live our lives in the mid seventies, we get a resonance from within about the joyful years awaiting us, while we live each day remembering that this becoming journey towards oneness is a gift.  We remain grateful for experiencing growing togetherness. 

What a privilege it is to stay connected with some friends and families of our children and feel supported and affirmed!

We live in the garden of life where relationships bring us to feel grounded. To be able to reach out to others in our small ways is an opportunity! In that sense, there is a fullness to this season in our lives. 

M.V.Mathew(text and photo)