Lessons from a Birdbrain

Lessons from a Birdbrain, Migration Celebration introduces you to 21 birds that can be found migrating through Ohio during spring and fall.  I took the photos in various locations, largely central Ohio from late September to December.  You will notice a wide variation in the quality of the photos because I am a novice photographer.  And like the birds migrating through, I'm still growing and transforming and let's face it, some phases of my transformation are lovelier than others.

Along with each bird, I include a "birdbrain" lesson that introduces a concept that resonated with me and I associated with the bird and photo mentioned.  These are simple things that for whatever reason, I didn't really learn until later in life when I learned to slow my mind a bit using techniques of mindfulness.  Or I need to learn again (and again) to catch on.

Birding and mindfulness go hand in hand for me because when I am out birding with my camera and binocs I am focused.  I am present and intently tuned in to the world around me.  And the moment I go to take a photo, I am 100% dedicated to the task at hand quite literally focusing (well attempting to focus...I'm a very novice photographer so sometimes it works better than others.)  I imagine it similar to an athlete in a critical moment of a game, where time slows briefly, I still my breath and zoom in for the win.  Too corny?  Maybe...but it works for me.  

In my attempts to get great pictures of birds, I also learn repeatedly the lessons of attachment, expectations, success and failure.  I can't control what birds will be around when I go out, what the light will be when the perfect bird lands in my range or even if my camera battery is about to konk out. I can prepare, I can plan but I can't force outcomes.  And I can learn to take the failures in stride OR I can brood, crank, stomp and whine.  This ability to allow brief moments of disappointment or elation to pass has been a key for me to rise above the tendency I have to get caught up in a thought groove, good or bad.

The greatest gift I've received from birding is that ability to step aside and "see" my thoughts and feelings from a distance, so to speak. 

I have specifically selected 21 chapters to coincide with the number of days it takes us humans to have a habit begin to take hold.  During the course of 21 days...