A New Bird!

 

This morning as I woke up, something had changed. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I looked around the room and it looked the same. Same bed, same sheets, the side lamp on my right, laptop waiting for me on the table and my phone buzzing with notifications. However, I did not feel like checking my phone like I always did. Why did I feel so different? I literally jumped of the bed, like I had no weight…May be earth’s gravity had changed? What a revolutionary idea! I chuckled to myself and went around to wash my face. Did I always look like this? I thought as I looked myself in the mirror. Who is this person looking back at me? What was going on? I went around the kitchen to make my cup of coffee. The rooms looked brighter, full of colours I had not noticed. The smell coffee tingled my nose as I poured the hot liquid in my cup. It never smelled so fresh before. As I strolled through the bright living room feeling like a child in a new house, I was captivated by a small bird in my balcony.

My eyes widened as that beautiful little creature started making cutest sounds I had ever heard. It came and sat on the bird feeder I had made years ago. It was actually eating seeds from it. How come I didn’t notice any of it before? Did it always come here? What was happening today? It had beautiful red and black stripes on its body. Despite being small, it exuded grace with his little crown like structure on the head. He ate his breakfast in perfect harmony, like he knew what he was supposed to do. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t fret, didn’t worry about time, didn’t get confused, didn’t cry over fallen grains nor cared about me watching him. He just ate to his heart’s content.

As I was drawn into the world of this bird, something just dawned upon me like a newfound light. I stood frozen in my balcony with a cup of coffee in my hand and something beautiful blooming in my heart. In that moment, I knew what had changed or rather what was missing from my life. The little bird just reminded me what I was here for!

Since this morning, I seemed to not care how many people liked my last night’s post on social media or sent me messages and notifications. Just like the little birdie did not care about me approving him.

 I seemed to not care, if I was aware of the exact schedule I was to follow today despite my laptop inviting me to the emails. I was almost frozen in time, with that little bird.

I seemed to not notice that the coffee was not exactly as frothy as I liked but rather felt completely grateful for that delicious divine taste in my mouth. Just like the bird ate whatever was in front of him with complete devotion.

I seemed to not notice how terrible I looked every morning as I washed my face but was rather greeted by two brilliant sparkling eyes. Just like the birdie never knew about his own beauty!

I seemed to not notice the shadows in the corners of the living room but rather saw the brilliant sun that formed them. No wonder they looked so open and inviting.

I seemed to not care if I got lost in watching a little birdie, I just submerged myself in that moment completely. Just like the bird following his own flow of time.

And then I knew what was happening. Nothing …. absolutely nothing had changed in my surrounding. The only thing that did change was the way I SAW them. The only thing that had changed was the invisible glasses I wore on my mind’s eyes. It was like somebody just handed a new pair of glasses to me and the world looked completely inside out, from wrong to right and from dark to bright.

Gravity of the earth had definitely not changed but maybe I had shed few kilos of judgement of myself and the world, and few more grams of hopelessness and despair. No wonder I felt so light.

In one quick moment, before I could say goodbye, my new little birdie friend flew far up in the sky.

And that’s exactly how he told me about the last thing that had changed inside me.

 I did not seem to care about taking a picture or a selfie with that bird or did not think of having him as a pet either. Rather it opened up the wings of my heart as I let the bird fly away to the open skies. Nothing holding him back, nothing weighing him down, liberated something inside me. No matter the beautiful bird feeder and the delicious grains, the birdie does not stay there forever. It keeps moving, keeps flying to newer skies and newer horizons.

And then I knew what was blooming in that heart of mine. You could call it love, you could call it freedom, you could call it power or simply grace.  Whatever the name, I seemed to have found a new bird this morning and it was here to fly!