Perspective
There’s a Native American story called Jumping Mouse. It’s about the transformation from seeing the details to the point of losing your Vision to rising above the details to gain perspective–growing from Mouse to Eagle.
Often I wonder about my Vision. I’ve always wanted to be of service to the evolution of consciousness on this beautiful planet. Different roles have contributed…state park naturalist, mental health counselor, and massage therapist/instructor but throughout those careers has been a thread of photography, music and writing. And those three foundations are where I offer my gifts to the world.
It’s easy for me to get so focused on the details…how to get my work out into the world, how to earn money doing the work I love, how to keep creating when I have no way of knowing if the work goes beyond my computer or social media page. I wonder sometimes…am I doing all I can do?
It’s necessary to gain perspective by rising about the Mouse details, the myopic vision of just this little cabin and my little mind. Today I did this by soaring into the sky and seeing where I was standing from a totally different view. I became Eagle.
As Eagle I saw my passion and desire to help this beautiful planet and all life here. Even though I looked small, I saw the bigness of my Spirit as it wants to serve the greater good. And perhaps most importantly, I saw that amazing transformation from mundane to spiritual as the beauty of the land and water and trees turned into natural art that went beyond the individual components to a unified whole. A beautiful Oneness.
When I find myself questioning the Vision, wondering ‘if,’ I will remember to rise above the little questions and see the Big Picture from the perspective of Eagle. And then, I will remember that each of us is part of a greater whole…we are One. Every good thought and action makes a difference. Every. Single. One.
It had been a rainy, cool day. Gray skies. Rain. Rain. Rain. The blueberry bushes in the garden must have grown three inches in one day. Each time I looked out the window, more green. It was the kind of day that lures me into an easy nap. Drop, drop, drop on the metal roof. Low light. A bit chilly so perfect sinking-into-the-puffy-recliner-reading weather.
I paused the video, ran upstairs and grabbed my case with drone, controller, licenses, permits, batteries and all the stuff necessary for safe flying. Just a quick up and down in the driveway would at least give me a bit of airtime.
And then…as the drone hovered directly overhead (I live at 2100 feet elevation) the sky began to do something amazing. It appeared that a spiral of clouds was coming out of the sun. And then wispy, thin fog tendrils began to creep over the mountain below the clouds. It takes hardly any time for fog to creep over mountain tops and more than once I have witnessed fog climb that particular nearby mountain and create a sea of white below the peak.
The light just before sunset, just before sunrise is always the sweetest. But that day it was the spiraling clouds, the creeping fog and the gray light that had me standing in my pajamas and fluffy slippers with my mouth hanging open and the words…oh…my…GOD! coming from a deep place of inner awe.
Flying a drone gives a new perspective, a new way to learn about the place in which I live. It helps me rise above everyday attitude as I gain altitude. I love it when Nature gifts me with a phenomena that renders me nearly speechless or a place that cannot be described in words.