Watching Sunbirds

A change is as good as a holiday, or so ‘they’ say. A new outlook on life can provide a new lease on life, too. Mine is a literal and physical change of view as I move workspaces in search of a shift in energy and a quieter space in which to focus, concentrate and achieve the many things I set out for myself to do each day.

Sitting with an almost-360-degree view of the outside world, as opposed to having my back to it, I practice the elasticity of mind that I have been cultivating through my meditation practice. Not only does this elastic band get stretched when the constant stream of varied energy moves through the space (in the form of colleagues popping in and out) but also when any one of the hundreds of sunbirds who have arrived to feast on the winter aloe garden outside arrive. Maybe arrive is the wrong word. They dart, weave and pop into view as tiny little iridescent balls of energy. They joyfully perch and hop as they suck the nectar from the aloes… only ever taking as much as they need for right then. These delicate beings fascinate me, and I delight in losing concentration for a few moments while I watch their journey through the garden and listen to their chattering calls.

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I could watch this all day. Literally do nothing else and feel fulfilled. This tiny act of bringing nature into my daily life affirms certain decisions I have made for myself recently. It reminds me to be true to what I believe in, and to always, always honour my own authenticity over the opinions of others. It makes me remember that no matter how many layers you need to put on at the beginning of the day, that the inner one is the one that counts. Remembering these things is important. It is grounding. It brings me back to mother earth. But, with the quiet tug of responsibility in the elasticity of my conscious mind, I pull my thoughts back to my to-do list and carry on with my work… pausing only to release these thoughts through the practice of writing and the outputs of creativity, feeding my soul along with the peaceful pastime of watching sunbirds.