Unfurl Your Wings

The bird is powered by its own life and by its motivation.  ”   -A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

It was a hectic and tiring day. After signing off from my work finally, it was a “Me” time with a mug of ginger tea. The most awaited time of the day when for a few moments, I prefer to distance myself from inundation of worldly ties. Just like me, Sun was also retiring from its day-long job and moving out for its new destination. The shades of orange and yellow merging with a white and blue sheet of the sky were evidence of its moving away for its new terminus. Our mother nature through Sunset in its exemplary way tells us to wind up with our daily chores and relax and chill out until next day. To an extent we all agree with the law of nature, that’s why roads in the evening are congested with traffic and deafening honking of vehicles is a common scenario ; and it’s not about humans even to my surprise the sky was also jampacked with all birds flying back to their shelters. On that day, I realised that these beautiful tiny creatures also have a tough time. God has made all of us in such a way that for survival on this planet we all have to work to feed ourselves. Nothing comes easy or it is rightly said by a wise man, “There are No Free Lunches”.

Those small tiny creatures work relentlessly throughout the day. The supreme power of nature has equipped all of us in a way that we can withstand all the challenges and face the hardships and I think birds are the perfect example to learn from. In their ways, they teach us so many things. The hard work, patience, and perseverance they exhibit are amazing. Building one’s own house is a lifetime achievement and it factually drains out a person in all aspects whether its financial, emotional, mental, or physical. But when the little birds build its nest, it is chirpy and sing while making it. In its little beak, it collects the straw and grass from different places and weaves it artistically. Building a shelter is a big task for those little souls too, and it takes considerable time and hard work. But their dedication and vision towards the goal are remarkable. They sing and build until it is done. They never give up. Also, the one more important quality or learning from them is the patience and calmness they exhibit in the difficult times when their nest gets destroyed due to human activity or natural disaster. Though it hurts to start things from scratch, they maintain their composure and work again on rebuilding it. Unlike humans, they do not dwell on the problems or create a mountain out of a molehill. Instead, they work on a solution-oriented approach. They accept the reality and engage themselves in reconstructing from the scratch with the same vigour and strength.  Learning for all of us, do not give up even if life hurts us again and again.

God has been kind; He blessed all living beings in his distinctive ways. I sincerely believe that human birth is his best creation. He made us in such a way that we can learn new things and can acquire skills to create new things. But rarely we appreciate the distinctiveness; instead, we prefer to look on the things that we do not possess and feel inferior. He gave wings to birds. For them, they are an asset. They treasure them for the freedom and confidence it gives and completely trust their extensions and use it as their strength. Never they have a second thought in their abilities or any complex. They do not fear the fall. They take time to think and flap their wings hard before flying but never at any time let their self-confidence dip. Their courage and trust in their skills help them find a new branch for themselves. They eventually develop the habit of adapting to changing environment and never get stuck thereby teaching us the lesson of believing in self. Trusting their abilities and and not getting disillusioned with emotions is the only saviour in tough times. The time when we feel betrayed or have failed dreams and unfulfilled broken promises, our Self Confidence helps; it is the only wand that can help us to face the scarred situations. In the crossroads of life we need to realize that hard times do not last but our confidence does. Someone has rightly said when you think it is the time to give up, that is the time when the real work begins. Life is constituent of rising and fall. The rise is always appreciated but underneath, the truth is, that every fall made a stair for our rise.

Another amazing thing that caught my attention of these winged creatures was their flock. They always surround themselves in the company of each other. They start the day together and stay connected throughout. They move like a big family that disperse together in the morning and never miss out the family mealtime. Also, they keep a vigil of each other and remain alert for any help if required. When they reunite, the sound of their chirp is deafening but they are all to themselves and enjoying each others company. It appears as if they give space and freedom to each other to talk with no inhibitions. They seek strength and sustenance from their friends and family by staying around and close. While, on the other hand, we human have with time acquired the skill of judging each other, ignorance and avoidance have become a new trend in human ideology; virtual world has become a new friend for all age groups and the real connections are a miss. Love, respect, compassion has got replaced with ego, jealousy, and ulterior motives. Sadly, we have become loners in our own homes. Can we refresh our mindset and think of reviving them back?

There are endless qualities and things to learn and adopt from these tiny creatures. But their discipline or their concept of time without wearing a hand watch is surprising. For example, a rooster always starts its day on time and with a very positive note. His voice of ‘cock a doodle’ do is full of energy and throughout his life span, it remains like that. The habit of rising early and waking others too also never changes. Even biologically our body is also set in that way but unfortunately we are moulding ourself in a declining curve by adopting the sedentary life. A lifestyle that is making us vulnerable to many physical ailments. We may be good organisers and disciplinarian at our professional level, but we fail to devote that time and positivity to our health and take it for granted. Some of us may be good cheerleaders but sadly lack the skill of cheering up our self. We now completely ignore the relevance of the poem that we were taught in kindergarten “Early to bed…………………makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”. Is it really difficult for us to make those little changes that can do wonders with our wellbeing?

While penning my thoughts, I realised that one mindful observation helped me notice so much positivity around and diving a little deep there is an enormous pool of small things that bring happiness that is eternal. The small wings are just one jewel of Almighty’s creation. They are the symbol of love, hope and tenacity. Let’s start learning and take some small life lessons from the little fliers……… 

” Life is like a bird, so don’t waste the time, fly each and every moment”

– Freedom Fred