Looking forward and backward !

The evening becomes an in between time for the birds. 

It is one sight that I did not understand for a while,  when a pair of birds look in the opposite directions while visiting their flight station in the evening. This pair of Bulbuls rested in this position (first picture) and afterward the one who was looking 'back' turned the neck to look forward in the same direction as its pair. One of them flew away with a chirp, while the other was left alone even while it had become darker.  I suppose it was waiting for the bird call of its pair to fly in the direction where it had chosen to have the night halt. 

I feel reasonably comfortable to come to these assumptions as I am more familiar with Bulbuls as two pairs of them stay in our garden for most of the day. 

Till they have a nesting place they are in transit stations for the night.

Before they find their night halt station, they would revisit their regular flight stations. The Bell fruit tree where they come to in the morning and evening, is a place of interest for me. When I get an opportunity I look out for the Bulbuls in the evenings  I like watching them during their in between time, when one is looking forward and the other backward. Both of them do not fly out together usually. One flies out and the other waits for the bird call! They leave the history of the day behind while proceeding for the night halt. 

Watching bird behaviours help me to be slow and patient. There can be  a slower rhythm to do the usual things, in which case, we do most things with sense of awareness. While brushing the teeth if the attention is on the feeling of the touch one experiences in the mouth with the brush and paste, then that activity is done with mindfulness. The sense of mindfulness we bring to our activities is a gift that we give to ourselves, to integrate our thoughts with actions and actions with the well being it can bring. 

Three days when I had a fall, I realised that I was thinking of the activity that I was going to do rather than stay mindful of each step I was taking whirl climbing the steps. I was not present in my body with mindfulness! It was a rainy day. I needed to be even more attentive to while walking. 

I feel that it is less than ideal to do an activity physically as a chore to complete it, while the mind is distant from the sequences in that activity. To do whatever we do with our mind and soul participating in it, brings a contemplative dimension to work, relationships and daily living!

It is good to have an in between time between the day a night, when we can sit back and revisit to find, if the sense of mindfulness is extending through the day! We breathe spontaneously. But when we breathe conscious of in breathing and out breathing, we are increasing the awareness of that activity. We can't do such activities with awareness all the time, but there are many other activities we can do with sense of presence !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)