Hummingbird Shaman

After a few days away from home I spent a quiet sunday morning at a slower restful pace. The day was warming quickly, and so the option was there to leave the patio door open for a while. It was not long before I heard a loud calling from just outside the door.

It was the alpha male hummingbird, perched on the hummingbird bush directly ahead of me. He was facing me, and as I greeted him he turned his head side to side. “Know what surrounds you, your life could depend on it”, he shared. This message did not come across as a threat, and was not meant to invoke fear. In this case it focused on being aware.

Our individual worlds are filled with so many experiences, communications and relationships. Knowing what is within your world is important, not just for the obvious concerns but also for the less obvious influences that manage to melt their way into our lives.

He sat on the branch, looking over his world. With just a glance he could assess his surroundings. There was no need to obsess, just observe clearly and respond.

“Look into your world, and know what surrounds you”. The hummingbird may be the smallest of birds, but is a fierce warrior. Still, with its gift of flight it is able to remove itself from harms way. As humans we may have more tools to address our situations, but it still gets down to the choice between fight or flight.

Our lives have been filled since the beginning of mankind with the fight and flight response, but we can take that concept a step further. As we delve into our own consciousness, will we see ourselves in the center? Are we able to understand that all we see and how we respond is fully within ourselves? If this is so, and everything begins and ends within us, then what does it say about our fight or flight response? What exactly are we responding to, something outside ourselves, or something within?

This focus on our inner world gives a whole new meaning to, “Know what surrounds you”. Be especially aware of those thoughts you carry with you each day of your life. The hummingbird assesses its world from a safe distance, but still knows every detail. Assess those little movements from the hummingbird’s perspective, and you may more easily see exactly what you face in your life.