A Little Bit Goes A Long Way

We have this concept of tithing, giving a small portion of what we produce to sustain the spiritual community that is like a haven for the soul. When I think of tithing and spiritual community the images that come to my mind are far removed from the world we live in today. So many are spreading their wings outside the traditional, but still seek community and connectivity in some form.

Still, when I look around at the spiritual-enhancing oasis’ we have available to us today I see we have many ways to create and nurture those communities, ways that stretch beyond our physical community. One direction we have turned to is websites, bridging us instantly around the world.

HummingbirdShaman is a portal to recognition of our own soul presence. We take that step by seeking out or seeing some sign that sparks something that cannot always be expressed in words. Though we may see those signs as something outside ourselves the impression that they make is felt deep within our soul.

Today, here at HummingbirdShaman, I share my thoughts and words in support of recognizing our subtle presence, offering this oasis of the soul through this website. There is little different between what I share today through HummingbirdShaman and what I shared when I stood behind the pulpit thirty years ago in front of a room of people as their minister on a Sunday morning. The only difference is time and space. The voice of spirit rises from what is written instead of what is said.

Inner Tithing

Tithing is not necessarily something that is restricted by what we give and who we give it to. It can be a slice of time that we give to ourselves to experience our own purposeful self, a time when we allow an open connection with the soul-self. One of my most treasured times is that moment when I hear the greeting of the hummingbird outside my door. Simple, yes, and our breath / spirit will always be just that, but that simple breath is life, that simple breath is what sustains us.

Acknowledging Our Communities

I encourage those who have found value in this spiritual community to support this portal to our soul-felt expression by giving. That giving can be a monetary donation offered via the website. It can be sharing a story, or commenting on posts. You can also support the community by scheduling a session for yourself or for your business venture or projects.

Making An Investment In Life

Our time is spent, as is our attention and energy. It is our choice how we view those investments, and recognize just how much our own thoughts influence the return from those investments.

Last week I shared a quote from Henry vanDyke, and I’d like to close with one more from this poet:

“Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love – time is eternity.”

A Little Bit Goes A Long Way © 2011 Estee Taschereau, HummingbirdShaman™ and WalkWithWings™. Estee brings 30+ years of focus on soul-expression and spirit-vision into her books and individual soul-defining sessions to guide individuals into greater recognition of their own life-sustaining passion and purpose.

What’s the Hurry?

It’s easy for us to get wrapped up in what we “have to do”, as though anything could be more important than our awareness, our breath, and our experience in life. Yet we do just that, finding discontentment in the traffic that takes our time away from more important things.

The appearance of that raccoon give me cause to remember an earlier thought, long before my trek out into the “river that doesn’t flow”, aka traffic. One thought leads to another, and before my first stop sign of the journey I gave thought to the two ways of business.

There’s the strip-mine style, where anything that creates a smile or brings a breath of relief is discouraged because it may interfere with productivity. Then there is the style of nature, to build and replenish. It’s easy to get lost in what we “do”, but what we do is the place where we bring our soul into the world. Our acts are the canvas and our creative nature is the palette full of the colors of life.

I yield to raccoons, those simple reminders to slow down and remember that life is far too precious to hurry on by.

I yield to raccoons © 2011 Estee Taschereau, HummingbirdShaman.com™. Learn more about the soul side of living and how to integrate more joy into living through a spiritual reading session.

Nothing to Crow About

The expression “nothing to crow about” is associated with boasting, making something a big deal. We might look at it as egotistical, self acknowledgement and gratification, or worse, waggling our accomplishments in the faces of others. Let’s step out of that perspective for a moment, and talk about crowing from a different angle.

Crowing – A Sign of Strength and Intelligence

Crows are amazing communicators. Just a few days ago I took a walking food break, and as I crossed through a parking lot toward my pathway I saw a crow hopping across the lot in search of food. I could not resist tossing him a piece of my own food, which he glanced at and soon carried away. At the other end of the lot another couple of crows perched on a light, apparently watching the exchange. I tossed out a couple more pieces, thinking they would not touch them till I passed, but these crows made it clear that time should not be wasted. One of the crows called out, then flew down to take what was offered. Soon there were 10 crows, all happy to take part in the offering. One made me smile as he grabbed not one but many pieces within his beak, displaying his skill and intelligence.

Nothing to Crow About?

When the crows talk they talk about things of value, something worth noting. Isn’t it amazing how humans can be, with our abilities and extensive means of communicating? We can express great brilliance, or just as easily be taken for a fool, with the dividing line being found somewhere in-between our clarity and the perception of others.

The expression “nothing to crow about” speaks of boasting, making something out of nothing. Every time I think of that expression I picture children and their cutting-edge ability to tell it like it is. Then I look around at the “real” world around me, and I see so many examples in advertising, media, and politics where the hocus-pocus stories are told to make whatever is being sold to us appear to be “the right thing” or “for our good”. It’s no wonder we’re confused and turn in so many directions to find our answers.

Crow Way or “Show” Way?

Which side do we take when it comes to having “something to crow about”? Do we take the crow’s perspective of sharing what is valuable and worthy of attention, or the smoke-screen, stage-show attitude that manipulates our thoughts and re-directs our attention? Perhaps it is time for us to ask a few solid questions and find our own answers, and demand facts instead of just a pile of “shiny objects”.

It’s funny how my thoughts have turned to the tales told about crows being attracted to “shiny objects”.  This may be true for crows, and it is also true for people. But those who speak of the crows from such a superficial perspective only show their own limits, offering nothing of value about their topic and backward messages hidden within their words.

There is intelligence that goes far deeper than what we are shown on the outside, and that statement applies both to crows and to people. We all have the choice to crow about nothing, or having something of value to crow about.

Nothing to Crow About © 2011 Estee Taschereau, HummingbirdShaman™ and Walk With Wings™. Estee shares over three decades of experience as a spiritual counselor, helping individuals build their own bridges between passion and wisdom. Sessions are offered by appointment via phone or Skype.

As I arrived home I see one of the many hummingbirds lingering at the lilacs. The two tubes of sugar water are empty, but the bigger bottle was not. As I glance back I see another form fluttering over the lilacs, maybe the same one, but that is difficult to determine.

Shifting from One Busy to Another

This weekend will be clean up time for the garden, and to kick-off the process I proceeded out the back door to fetch the large recycling cans I keep for such an occasion. This isn’t work, not like the week has been, but a simple task that celebrates the time I’ll have with nature.

I spotted 1/2 ripe tomatoes as I set the cans in place for filling, and rounded the post to gather my harvest. It’s already mid october and too few tomatoes have ripened. As I contemplate the state of tomato-affairs I see another figure in the nearby trees. Another hummingbird shows himself by rising above the branches, then eases himself down on a high branch. I call out to him with my limited range of hummingbird type sounds, and he responds in his sing-song voice very enthusiastically. I try to mimic the joyful voice, but only sound like a confused chatter, to which he replies, this time more in a choppy sequence that sounds like morse code.

Aren’t all the sounds we make “intended”?

It sounds strange to some, and refreshingly similar to others, but it’s real: we do communicate within our own species, and with other species we can create a level of comfort with. For some it is the pet rodent that nestles in your pocket and warmly accepts a sunflower seed or some other treat. We connect with our dogs, cats, horses, pot-belly pigs, and the many other animals in our lives. Our parrots and other domesticated birds speak to us as best they can, and listen to our words. So how is it strange to connect to a hummingbird?

Hummingbird Chatter – Morse Code Messages?

These moments of greetings may not be morse code messages, and we may write-off the sounds of a hummingbird as some primitive bird-talk. Maybe yes, maybe no. It could be that we’re the ones unable to make the connection and interpret the message, being far too busy with our noise and our electronic world to connect to something living. God bless those little creatures for giving us a chance to smile.

As for me, I’m still completely exhausted but yet rejuvenated. Leave it to a little winged wonder to guide me to a place where I can Walk With Wings.

Hummingbird Chatter – Morse Code Messages? © 2011 HummingbirdShaman.com. To schedule a spirit-to-spirit energy healing session please use the contact form or the Google voice button to connect via phone.

Amazingly enough we still have moments when everything adds up and the pieces fall together. It takes a big step out of the logic-mind to see something that we might just have to call a miracle, and it takes a long-deep breath within our soul to hold faith in something that cannot be explained. God bless us all for stepping out of our manufactured-lives and into the breath that is spirit, the true-life essence that gives purpose to everything else.

Susan’s Hummingbird Story

I’ve been coming to Walk with Wings since losing my mother to lung cancer in February.. I don’t remember now exactly how I found you, but I’m glad I did!

My story about hummingbirds is a long one, so I hope it’s ok to write it all to you.

When it came to the time that I knew my mother was not going to be with us much longer, I felt the need to have a heart to heart last talk with her. I told her how much I loved her and how much I was going to miss her, and I told her that I don’t know or understand how it all works, but if it was possible when she gets to heaven, would she send me a hummingbird so that I would know that she is there and that she is ok.

By this time it was hard for her to even speak, but she got these words out clearly to me..”Susan, if that is possible, I will do it.” This was February 5th, late in the evening. She passed away 16 days later.

After she passed, I kept thinking, “WHY did you ask for a hummingbird, there has always been lots of them around, I should have asked for something really out of the ordinary!”

When it was time to make the funeral arrangements, my sisters and I were looking at the things that we had to buy..my sister spotted a book up on a shelf, she called to me with tears in her eyes. She said, “Susan, here is your hummingbird.” It was a condolence book with hummingbirds on the front of it. Of course, that is the book that we have to get! This was the first “sign” for me.

About 3 weeks later, my husband went out our back door. He called to me in an excited voice. There laying on my porch was a little hummingbird! The tears were pouring by now..I picked it up, put it in a shoebox because it was hurt and could’nt fly. I kept it there for a little while til it finally got enough strength to fly away.
Even that very act of me trying to keep it and take care of it makes perfect sense now. That was exactly what I had been doing for her for months! But I finally had to let her go..

I felt such a connection to it all..(I connected all the dots!”).. This was what I WAS supposed to ask her to send to me! And now I know that the talk my Mother and I shared that night was not just a heart to heart, but spirit to spirit!

Heart to Heart, Spirit to Spirit

Thank you for sharing your beautiful story. Too long? Not at all. We all need those long deep breaths sometimes when we get to linger within the magic of spirit. Many of those special times come and go so quickly like the hummingbird encounters, but they are so full of life that they linger within and energize a part of us that is so often overshadowed by our hectic world.

Out of the ordinary: what a great comment, and you did get what you asked for, something out of the ordinary. How wonderful that you guarded that hummingbird till it could take flight again.

God Bless,

Estee
HummingbirdShaman

Hummingbirds as Symbols of the Soul © 2011 Estee Taschereau, HummingbirdShaman.com. To schedule a spirit-to-spirit energy healing session please use the contact form or the Google voice button to connect via phone.