Something opens our wings
Makes boredom and hurt disappear.
Someone fills the cup in front of us.
We taste only sacredness.
Rumi

As with my posting on 10/13/16, this posting is about an experience at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston which has become one of my favorite places. I go there three or four times a month. I am personally so grateful to have this place to come to. The gardens enrich my life greatly.

I was focused on birds at one of their bird baths. I expected to get two or three pictures over the period of an hour. But on that day, much to my total surprise, it was very busy. Within an hour I got 151 pictures of about twenty-five birds.
Birds usually first landed on a near by trellis checked the area out and when it felt safe flew to the bird bath. They would flit in and out. Sometimes staying for a minute or even two but more often for about ten seconds.

 

We don’t really know why birds like to go to bird baths. It may have something to do with maintaining their feathers. In so doing they fly more efficiently.

This fellow seemed to enjoy his reflection. He stayed longer than any other bird. Perhaps humans aren’t the only ones who like looking in the mirror. There is even some research suggesting that some animals not only recognize the reflection of one of their own but recognize their own individual image. They know the difference between a picture of one of their kind and their own specific, unique reflection. Of course, I do not know how this bird is processing the image it seems so curious about. But consciousness occurs in many forms throughout the cosmos and is possessed by any sentient being in far more depth than we know. What I do know is that the wings of my consciousness opened up and took flight with joy as I observed all of this. Spirit comes along during these times in the form of these little beings lighting up the heart and soul. Spirit is present in everything and every moment even in such small moments as photographing birds at a botanic garden.

Then along came another. I wanted to catch him in flight. I had to respond to this situation within a nanosecond. Point. Shoot. No thoughts. No adjustments. Just being right there in that exact moment. No ideas. No concepts. Just click. Click. Click. Nothing else mattered in this instant.

 

 

 

 

 

When I arrived home I down loaded the pictures with great excitement I was particularly interested in how this attempt came out. It was a step more difficult to capture the movement. And my thought when I saw it was “Close but not quite.” In addition, I saw there were some technical problems with some other pictures which I knew I could correct in my next trip to the gardens. I felt confident that I had found the golden source of bird pictures. I planned to go back soon and get more. After all the bird bath wasn’t going anywhere.

That is when another aspect of this experience emerged. Returning would be a great opportunity to learn. And it was. I just didn’t learn what I thought I’d learn. The cosmos had other plans.

I went back there five times for the express purpose of getting more birds pictures and got NONE. The bird bath was empty, empty, empty. I puzzled at length over this. Perhaps it was now too hot, or cold or windy. Or possibly I was there at the wrong time of day. I asked a staff member about this. At first, she was as puzzled as I. She generously talked for several minutes and then she went about her business trimming a bush. Returning to speak ten minutes later her thought was that I was here the first time at the end of nesting season when birds had to be feeding young all the time and were constantly out of their nests. Wow. That made perfect sense to me.

Ecstasy does not return in the ways we expect or wish. Not only is the present moment the only thing we have but it does not repeat. Some things only occur once. And even though I know this, the date of the first session is already in my calendar for next year. Hoping for more and knowing there is no guarantee and wishing most of all to be present to whatever occurs.