In reply to the last post on Control Issues, Trust, and Being Open, Karla had a great response. I started to just respond in the comment section, but it occured to me that this would make a good post (actually two posts) as it contains so much food for thought.
Karla said: Maybe it's important to remember that we don't always have to fly. The chicken could hop down on the ground and find a fascinating life there! Wherever we go when we leap off the roost, there are adventures to be had!
I love her point about the chicken... we are who we are. Being a chicken (if you are a chicken) can be adventurous and exciting and fulfilling. But, if you are, for example, a robin TRYING to be a chicken... well it's going to be stressful, and complicated, and unsuccessfull on many levels. A chicken, on the other hand, trying to be a robin is doomed to failure.
So, I like her point. I guess the question would be who am I? What is my own unique essential nature? And just begin to BE that.
She also said: The open hand DOES seem easier to do. The only thing is sometimes I find myself REACTING to events in a way that causes the hand to tighten up. Kind of an uncontrollable thing to regain control. Sounds funny, doesn't it? Is that self preservation or a lack of faith? How can we remember to let loose in that instant we want to form a fist? I KNOW I'm not in control but it's that knee jerk reaction in crisis, ya know?
I was thinking about what she said, and looking at the image of the bird on the hand, and I couldn't help noticing that that little bird has what looks like a good grip on the finger it's sitting on. Which brought up a number of questions:
- When you clench up, are you gripping on to your support system?
- When something frightens you, do you hold tight to your beliefs, to your "source", to your "God", to balance, to home, to love?
- Or do you clench up and cling to something different?
- What?
- Are you the bird on the hand?
- A bird in a cage?
- Or the monkey with his hand in the jar?
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2 comments:
I love the monkey story AND the inspiring story of the cancer-free man who had experienced so much! Goes back to that movie we saw, The Bucket List!
I gotta tell you about what happened today at work. I work for an attorney (go figure) and a little moth was flitting about in our office. Poor thing! I believe he knew I wanted to help and after several attempts, he perched upon my hand and I took him out to the garden. OK. Good deed done, right? He would'nt let loose! Just sat there regarding me on my hand and finally I had to gently nudge him to take flight. In light of todays project, I found this incredibly profound. We are not the only ones who cling to the safety of a loving hand when we know we should follow our own flight patterns!
Cluck
What a cool story. It occurs to me that sometimes the greatest freedom lies in remaining still.
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