Who YOU lookin' at???
I get a kick out of watching animal behavior, human and otherwise. I observe, assess, try figure out what said animal is thinking, and usually wind up with a pretty good dialogue going on in my head. This habit is especially fruitful when engaged in in the emergency department waiting room. ;) People/animal watching is a fun past time for me that has helped me understand my world, amused me, and it's free!! Winning!! Well as you've noticed, it's spring. That amps up the level of crazy all over the place in my yard (and that's just the non-human part of my life!)
Robins in particular seem to be participating in a whole degree of dingy all their own. Today I got home from work at 0900 to find a big red male repeatedly rushing my floor to ceiling windows. He has three in a row to choose from. At first I thought he was trying to figure out how to get his bulk onto the tiny ledge of the bird feeder, but as I watched, he didn't seem interested in food. He would perch on the vine maple adjacent to the window, glare at the window, clack his beak a few times, and then flutter all up and down the window. He would then fly back to the tree and repeat the whole sequence after a few seconds. FOR HOURS. I had chores to do and was running around the house but was aware that there was a fluttering and most of the time contact with the window. The chickadees that were brave enough to visit the feeder eyed him with suspicion at first but then went about their rooting for nuggets with a wary eye and a shrug of their feathered shoulders as if to say "He ain't from 'round here I spose...."
I sat down to study and realized that this behavior was not going to stop on it's own. I read an article online about how birds and especially robins are territorial this year. They want to chase other robins away so that their babies can have more area for food. The thing that was funny, is this bird was supposed to be singing and attracting a mate and building a nice soft nest. But instead he was so bent out of shape that there was a potential rival, that he couldn't focus on any of those things. When he fluffed up his feathers, so did the threat bird. When he dashed at the window, the rival did the exact same thing! Of all the cheek!!
I finally had mercy on the poor thing and drew the shades down so the reflection wouldn't be so apparent. He looked at me through the window as if to say, "There! He's gone!! And don't come back!" And he flew away.
What is your plate glass window? What has you so distracted and distraught that you can't focus on forward? What reflection, memory, habit, inner-battle, YOU, are you fighting? Are you so caught up in your perception of certain things that you can't see there is a whole world out there waiting for you to turn around and claim? I am all for being the best you can be, seeing the areas of life where you are hung up, and working through them. But there comes a point where that leads to a danger of just looking in instead of looking out. I already am pretty sure of everything that is internal to me. I know the questions I have answers to, and where I need to figure things out better. But we can learn so many things if we lift up our head away from that mirror and look around us. A lot of times, the internal battle we are fighting fades away when we focus on others.
Don't be identified by the struggle. Work on what you need to work on, but get out and see what's out there too. There is a whole world waiting for you to enrich with the very qualities that make you you. Don't deprive it of your uniqueness because you are stuck fighting with something that is a perception. Real OR imagined.
All right, sermon over - I've got some robin remnants to go wash off. :)
Happy Spring!!
Make it a great day!
Robins in particular seem to be participating in a whole degree of dingy all their own. Today I got home from work at 0900 to find a big red male repeatedly rushing my floor to ceiling windows. He has three in a row to choose from. At first I thought he was trying to figure out how to get his bulk onto the tiny ledge of the bird feeder, but as I watched, he didn't seem interested in food. He would perch on the vine maple adjacent to the window, glare at the window, clack his beak a few times, and then flutter all up and down the window. He would then fly back to the tree and repeat the whole sequence after a few seconds. FOR HOURS. I had chores to do and was running around the house but was aware that there was a fluttering and most of the time contact with the window. The chickadees that were brave enough to visit the feeder eyed him with suspicion at first but then went about their rooting for nuggets with a wary eye and a shrug of their feathered shoulders as if to say "He ain't from 'round here I spose...."
I sat down to study and realized that this behavior was not going to stop on it's own. I read an article online about how birds and especially robins are territorial this year. They want to chase other robins away so that their babies can have more area for food. The thing that was funny, is this bird was supposed to be singing and attracting a mate and building a nice soft nest. But instead he was so bent out of shape that there was a potential rival, that he couldn't focus on any of those things. When he fluffed up his feathers, so did the threat bird. When he dashed at the window, the rival did the exact same thing! Of all the cheek!!
I finally had mercy on the poor thing and drew the shades down so the reflection wouldn't be so apparent. He looked at me through the window as if to say, "There! He's gone!! And don't come back!" And he flew away.
What is your plate glass window? What has you so distracted and distraught that you can't focus on forward? What reflection, memory, habit, inner-battle, YOU, are you fighting? Are you so caught up in your perception of certain things that you can't see there is a whole world out there waiting for you to turn around and claim? I am all for being the best you can be, seeing the areas of life where you are hung up, and working through them. But there comes a point where that leads to a danger of just looking in instead of looking out. I already am pretty sure of everything that is internal to me. I know the questions I have answers to, and where I need to figure things out better. But we can learn so many things if we lift up our head away from that mirror and look around us. A lot of times, the internal battle we are fighting fades away when we focus on others.
Don't be identified by the struggle. Work on what you need to work on, but get out and see what's out there too. There is a whole world waiting for you to enrich with the very qualities that make you you. Don't deprive it of your uniqueness because you are stuck fighting with something that is a perception. Real OR imagined.
All right, sermon over - I've got some robin remnants to go wash off. :)
Happy Spring!!
Make it a great day!
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