let’s not beat around the bush here, life can be a bit hard at times.
Whether someone is struggling financially, emotionally, physically, spiritually, or, heaven forbid, some or all of them at once, it’s a tough but real part of life nobody can avoid.
Both you and I will face at least 1 of these challenges in our lives, and quite possibly more than one if truth be told.
Without getting too personal here, I currently face a couple of those issues as we speak. But each and every morning I get up and out of bed and take a 3-mile walk to help get me going for the day.
The walk itself is just that, a walk. It’s what happens on the walk that’s important.
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This morning, for example, I came across a neighbors wheat field that had a few Canada geese still lingering in it from their morning meal.
I have been watching these geese for several days now on my walks, every morning and night as I slowly but surely trek my 3-mile course.
Last night, I came across a hummingbird feeding on some roadside sunflowers, so I stopped and watched for a bit as it buzzed back and forth between the brightly colored blooms.
And if you read my last post, each evening the skies have been filled with thousands of congregating white-faced ibis as they get ready for their long southward journey to Mexico for the winter.
I don’t have the answers to all of life’s ailments, not by a longshot, but one thing I know for sure, watching birds is a type of food for the mind, body, and soul that is available to all of us just about anywhere we are, in fact.
Bird watching takes us out of the crazy, fast-paced world man created and gives us time to breathe, time to rest from the noise and nonsense we all help to create.
Even if it is just a few brief moments in the backyard or a mile or so down a country road, taking time to watch birds do their thing gives us a moment or two to regroup and re-energize ourselves for another day.
This is something that I’ve learned from experience but, unfortunately, I can’t give someone else to realize, they just have to experience it for themselves.
Personally, I have found bird watching to be so soulfully rejuvenating, last year I deleted my Facebook account and got rid of my tv, thus deciding right then and there being outdoors watching birds will now be my entertainment if you will.
Now I know what you are thinking, that sounds like I’ve gone off the deep end.
And maybe so, but what these changes have brought me is a lot more peace and happiness in my life from getting rid of some of the noise and clutter our man-made world brings and replacing it with some of the simplicities of nature, more precisely bird watching.
Don’t get me wrong, however, I do enjoy our modern world. I just have found from my own experiences we need to take time away from something to oftentimes enjoy it more.
And for me, at least, the hectic world of deadlines, bills, traffic jams, and even bad hair days (yes, guys have those too) was becoming less and less enjoyable.
It is so easy to get bogged down by texts, emails, instant messages, posts, tweets, and so forth that we forget to take time for the most important thing in life, and that is life itself.
I am here to tell you, take time to go bird watching and put all of the rest to bed for a few hours, including the phones you and I carry around as if they were chained to our hips.
Spend a couple or more hours each week watching birds, even if it’s just in your backyard at a feeder or birdbath.
Me and my brother spend a few hours each and every Sunday in the yard watching birds and it is one of the most relaxing things we have found to get both of us ready for the next week.
life is simple, and I think it was intended to be that way.
Man, on the other hand, has added all of the noise and distractions that take us away from connecting with ourselves once in a while and fills our day with a lot of useless nonsense.
I mean, seriously, if we all sat down and listed everything we did today, I am willing to bet the farm most of what we all list, myself included, added very little to nothing to our lives as a whole but upped our stress and anxiety levels more than we would ever admit.
That, in a nutshell, is why I walk 6 miles a day and watch birds any and every chance I get, both on my walks and everywhere else a bird might be found.
Personally, and without getting too far into the religious side of things here, I think there is actually a spiritual connection man has with nature, and why it is so soothing to the soul.
Stop and watch a brilliant sunset, sit and listen to a trickling waterfall, or gander for a moment at a passing flock of birds, as a few examples, and see what I mean.
There is something about nature that is a part of you and I, but, unfortunately, man has forgotten about that inner connection with our planet with all the man-made distractions and noise we face each and every day.
Now, in closing, I am in no way saying get rid of your phones and delete your social media accounts, not in the least.
All I am saying is put all of that aside for a few hours each week and replace it with something nature has to offer, like bird watching, and let it help rejuvenate you for what the world has in store for your life journey.
Trust me, we all face struggles in life, as I first mentioned, but getting out and enjoying birds, even in our own backyards can help remedy a lot of what ails us.
It might not be a cure-all but it does help, and help a lot I might add, to get us through some of those days we would like to just forget, if we ever really could, that is.
I am seeing it daily in my own life as I put more emphasis on the simple things of life, like nature and birds, and less on the man-made things that really weren’t bringing much happiness or joy in my life.
Get out and go bird watching, it’s good for the mind, body, and soul.
I try to write and photograph things I find interesting that will hopefully show others just how grand nature really is and how important it is to us, even if we only get to enjoy it for a few brief moments here or there.
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