An Eagle Knows It’s An Eagle

It’s a clear and crisp day today on the West Coast. In fact, it’s stunningly beautiful!

So I dressed for the cold (yes, -4°C is cold to me!) and went to my favorite ocean-side park for a walk. This is where I go to calm my mind, to move my body and to let go of the tightness and fears that so easily overwhelm me sometimes.

It’s not nearly that green today – there’s a light blanket of white still hanging around from the weekend snowfall and a sheet of ice lightly covering anything that hasn’t been touched by the sun quite yet. Different – but still my favorite place to be!

As I walked, I breathed. I reminded myself that I have to stop living in my head – in a world of “what if” and “should” and “why not” and “not good enough” – and choose to live life right here, in this moment. I paid attention to all that’s around me. There’s the moss that is brilliantly green, particularly compared to the bare trees and muddy path. There are the multitude of small to medium sized creeks – the water so happily pouring itself between and over the rocks as it finds its way down to the ocean. I often think – this is the sound of nature giggling!

I noticed all the little birds and squirrels scurrying about. Are they always there but I just don’t normally notice them because I’m so busy rushing through my walk, thinking about what I have to do or about a conversation that I had? Or needed to have? Or are there really more of them out today because of the crisp, sunny weather? Or does it really matter?? Oops – there I go again, off on some tangent in my head!

There was a point where I noticed quite a racket overhead and, looking up, noticed a bald eagle gliding high as a flock of little birds dive-bombed and squawked at it. So calmly, that eagle floated down and landed on a branch – and just sat there.

I was surprised! Weren’t the little birds going to take this opportunity to attack it? After all, now it’s sitting still and vulnerable. But they didn’t and that eagle sat there, as calm as could be – using its vantage point to survey all that lay below.

And that’s when it struck me – that eagle knows itself, knows its strengths and knows that those little birds are just distractions. It doesn’t need to spend it’s energy defending itself or running away because it knows – and those little birds know – what it’s capable of. And it has absolute trust in knowing that it is an eagle!

More often lately, I’m getting a sense of who I really am and what my particular strengths are – or what gifts I bring to this world. In fact, I have moments of absolute clarity – like when I’m chairing a DPAC meeting and the whole room is engaged and laughing and thinking about education and our children. Like when I’m asking questions and learning and bringing a different perspective and my creativity to the table. Like when I know, with absolute certainty, what is right for me or my children.

I walk away from those moments thinking “Wow! This is what I was put on this Earth for! This is what I was born to be!”

But then, I let myself be distracted by those little birds flying around my head – I get caught up in all those “shoulds” again. I trust others’ voices above my own. I blindly accept or reject my own or others’ ideas – not based on thoughtfulness, but purely on my reactions and fears. I get all caught up in my feelings and accept that as truth instead of remembering those moments of clarity.

It seems so easy to spend my time and energy trying to defend myself, to prove that other’s are wrong so that I can be right, to only see what I’m NOT doing or being rather than what I AM and what I excel at.

And my own perspective changes depending on how I’m feeling about myself. When I doubt myself, I doubt those around me. When I’m afraid, I see threats from every angle. When I get frustrated that I can’t seem to change things, then everything becomes so unchangeable. Everything “out there” becomes a reflection of my inner belief system.

I am struck by one of the quotes on the Lululemon manifesto: “Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.”

It is when I’m comfortable in my own skin and living in that clarity that I am most accepting of others. That’s the time when I am patient with everyone else’s process or state of mind. And I can see the ways to inspire positive change – to care, to support, to motivate.

Because it’s in those moments that I’m absolutely authentic about who I am, what I want and why – and I think that just like those little birds flying around that eagle, others can sense that certainty in me. When I trust it, then others can trust it. When I’m patient with myself, others can feel that I’m patient with them. When I believe, then others can believe too!

And that brings me back to my journey. The next steps for me are really about accepting what I already know – and learning how to live that on a day to day basis.

And I’m the only one who can choose to do that for myself…