I am in a transition from an active professional life involving more than 12 hours of the day to a more structured day with lesser hours of conversations and engagements with people. I have been longing for freedom to choose the events of the day rather than be in a responding mode to engage the situations of each day.
The walking pace of this Ibis gave me an indication of choosing to move and pausing to proceed.
During the twenty minutes I watched this Ibis, it moved about thirty feet, changing direction a few times! It moved forward and sideways and not backward!
I observed three aspects of this rhythm.
It moved slowly looking around and placing the steps forward firmly.
It rested in between, lifting one of its feet and standing on one leg for short periods.
It moved its head on all directions as if to sense the environment and plan the move.
This gave me an insight about the way an Ibis moves on the land. It is walking to exercise and find its feed from the ground. It has an option to move by flying. Whenever it chooses to walk, it is slow, steady and rhythmic in movements.
The calendar and clock direct me most of the time moving me from one activity to another. The events of the day often determine my responses.
I found the Ibis incorporating a style of pausing to choose the next move, rather than behave by responding to what is around.
I find in that move an inwardness of sensing and choosing!
Listening from within is an attitude that some people develop by practice.
They listen attentively to themselves and others. They feel, sense and respond with affect and mindfulness. They convey that spontaneously in their conversations and conduct. They consider before they move and contemplate on what they shall say.
I was with someone with this inner orientation for a short while yesterday! He refreshed me with a sense of presence. He noticed the wrinkles on my face and wondered whether I was feeling heavy of heat! He sensed how I felt at that time. He smiled and said that 'This too shall be behind soon'! His sense of presence to feel my inner ambience comforted me! It was enough to know that someone felt for me.
To know and feel near to the inner happenings in our lives is possible when we pause and proceed. From chasing the day, there is an option pausing during the day to 'return and rest' in the inner ambience where God is resting within the turbulence.
As I concluded the day with the above thoughts, the scene of Jesus of Nazareth sleeping in a boat, while it was caught in storm came to me (Matthew8:23-27). His disciples woke him up by saying, 'Save us Lord, we are perishing'! Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea and it became calm. Sleeping while voyaging through turbulence!
Sleep is one occasion when we surrender ourselves to the silent physiological rhythm of the body, when our conscious awareness is at its lowest level. No wonder that the turbulence was not an issue of concern for Jesus of Nazareth. He lived close to the ambience of peace within. His disciples lived close to the turbulence outside.
The Ibis I watched, moved, paused and proceeded. It was present to itself while negotiating its moves!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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