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inspiration & influence

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About the hummingbird

August 25, 2013

IMG_5546Symbols are a strange thing. It’s funny how some particular symbols seem to start appearing in your life. Perhaps they were all the time and you just start noticing them or perhaps they have just started gathering like birds flocking together. As Carl Jung says in ‘Man and his Symbols’: “As a plant produces its flower, so the psyche creates its symbols.” (p53)

In my case, the symbol appearing in my life recently and calling for my fervent attention is the hummingbird.

I first noticed it when I was shopping in London in April. It always interests me what draws you to particular clothes: the style, patterns and symbols that attract us at any point in time. I was drawn to a scarf with hummingbirds dotted all over it. I wore it like a talisman as I travelled around the UK, a piece of comfort I wrapped around me at a time of transience and changing environments.

Hummingbird scarfI went to the British Museum and of all the wondrous antiquities and images and amid millions of objects in the Enlightenment Room, I fall in love with a tiny stuffed hummingbird sitting proudly on a perch in a glass cabinet. My image of the bird somehow sums up a whole day and the entire trip. I know not why and wonder again at how we are drawn to one image, one object amid so many, that resonates and sings to our soul.

Suddenly hummingbirds are everywhere: they are a recurring symbol in the book I am reading, Tracy Chevalier’s ‘The Last Runaway’; they pop up as a key symbol front and centre in a visual in one of Susannah Conway’s lessons in the e-course I am doing, ‘Journal Your Life’; I am reading about the hummingbird, then go to twitter and up pops @HumbirdsSong; I go to a student graduation and one of the Aboriginal students I talk to has the personal totem of a hummingbird and a gorgeous hummingbird tattoo on her forearm; I notice there are hummingbirds on the box where I hold my scarves; I pick up a birthday card for a friend and the brand is Papyrus, with the symbol of, yes, the hummingbird.

 Hummingbird scarf boxSo what is all this about? What is the symbol saying to me? Why is it appearing and what is its message?

The card is the first clue and the first time I read anything of the symbolism or legend. It says brightly in a greeting card kind of way:

Legends say that hummingbirds float free of time, carrying our hopes for love, joy and celebration. The hummingbird’s delicate grace reminds us that life is rich, beauty is everywhere, every personal connection has meaning and that laughter is life’s sweetest creation

It’s a lead that I value and I look further and find the following about the hummingbird as a spirit animal, totem and personal symbol:

The hummingbird spirit animal symbolizes the enjoyment of life and lightness of being. Those who have the hummingbird as a totem are invited to enjoy the sweetness of life, lift up negativity wherever it creeps in and express love more fully in their daily endeavors. This fascinating bird is capable of the most amazing feats despite its small size, such as traveling great distances or being able to fly backwards. By affinity with the hummingbird, those who have this bird as totem may be encouraged to develop their adaptability and resiliency while keeping a playful and optimistic outlook.

I search further and read more about the hummingbird. It is so perfectly the symbol for me and especially my time right now. All the messages ring true:

Being present and enjoying life:

It is a reminder that life is meant to be savoured. It is about being more present and bringing playfulness and joy into your life.  It’s about exposing yourself to more joy and showing love. “The hummingbird’s wisdom carries an invitation to take part in and draw to you life’s sweetness, like you would drink the nectar of your own flower.” (from Hummingbird Spirit Animal)

Taking time to draw strength from within:

The hummingbird is a reminder that “the sweetest nectar is within”  (from Hummingbird Animal Totem). It’s a reminder to look at how we are gaining and expending our energy and whether there is any frittering away of energy on needless worry. It’s about the need to take time to recharge from within, knowing you have the resources to take you forward to meet any challenges.

Resilience and adaptability:

The hummingbird is “the bird of the impossible“. It can fly backwards; it can fly over 2000 miles; its wings make the symbol of infinity as it flies. It is a symbol of resilience, of tirelessness, of being adaptable to a situation that is a bit more demanding than usual. It symbolises that difficulties can be overcome and how this might occur:

The only bird able to fly backwards, the Hummingbird guides us back to our past, showing us that we must not dwell on it and that we need to move joyfully forward, showing us the power of discipline and will-power, the ability to do anything we wish in our lives. It  teaches us fierce independence. Recovering lost parts of ourselves enables us to become healthily independent.

These themes connect into a powerful message to carry with me. I wear a little hummingbird to keep me connected to this wise energy.

hummingbirdWhat symbols are coming into your life right now?

What are you noticing and what are the symbols saying to you?

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inspiration & influence

Thought pieces #4 Courage

August 9, 2013

Walk to Hardcastle Crags, nr Hebden Bridge, West Yks

Courage is more exhilarating than fear, and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, You Learn by Living (1960)

inspiration & influence introversion

Thought pieces #2

July 1, 2013

IMG_5349

My daydreams are nearly all of country cottages, of little gardens, of ‘settling down’ with flowers in vases and coloured curtains. I don’t think of backaches, dish washing.

I want to live amongst things that grow, not amongst machines. To live in a regular rhythm with sun and rain and wind and fresh air and the coming and going of the seasons. I want a few friends that I may learn to know and understand and talk to without embarrassment or doubt.

I want to write books, to see them printed and bound.

And to get clearer ideas on this great tangle of human behaviour.

To simplify my environment so that a vacillating will is kept in the ways that I love. Instead of pulled this way and that in response to the suggestion of the crowd and the line of least resistance.

‘A Life of One’s Own’, Marion Milner, 1987 Virago (first published, 1934) p51

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inspiration & influence

Springing

June 10, 2013

I love Spring. It’s my favourite season. I love all that it represents: new growth, new beginnings, warmth from cold, the coming of summer and longer days of sunshine. I recently spent five weeks travelling around England, Wales and Ireland. And lucky for me, it was spring, with long days, buds coming out, bright green leaves and blossoms. And I get to have another spring later in September here. Joy, oh joy!

inspiration & influence

Seeing stars

February 3, 2013
Orion Nebula

Orion Nebula – by the Smithsonian Institute via flickr

These words are running around my head…

Look at the stars,

Look how they shine for you,

And all the things that you do.

Yes, they are from a song from a while ago, “Yellow” by Coldplay but it’s suddenly on high rotation in my head and I woke up to these words running through me in the middle of last night. They are beautiful, speak of possibility, potential, opportunity. They are sad and make me think of my brother and what I didn’t get to say to him when he couldn’t see the light shining any more. They are words of encouragement to continue to see the light and positives ahead.

These words sit by my desk…

Perhaps they are not the stars but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy

This is an Eskimo proverb apparently. Even before I came across this quote, it was how I liked to think of the stars. I found myself in my deepest moments of grief looking up into the stars with some sense of connection and comfort. It’s something I still do.

These stars shine for me…

I wrote about my seven stars a few years ago when I was just starting out here. These stars still shine for me. Weekly, daily, their words and projects influence and guide me. Here are some recent thoughts on their influence:

Shanna Germain wrote a brilliant post ‘Do the Words: On (Writing) Productivity‘ based on sitting and writing in a cafe while overhearing a conversation about all the barriers the speakers faced to writing. She tweeted:

People at next table spent 2 hrs kvetching about writer’s block. In that time, I wrote 827 words, edited 2 stories. Shut up. Do the words.

Shanna cuts through, does the words, gets on with it and through the resistance and is such a great example of writing productively. This is a message I will be remembering this year: stop talking (or blogging) about it and just get on with it!

Susannah Conway. What can I say, I am a huge fan and cannot capture just how influential Susannah has been to me. This recent post, ‘From the Heart‘ just floored me as Susannah reflected so openly on both the personal toll of her work effort and her sense of being alone; my heart and many others went out to her in return. This post demonstrated, in the deepest way, the sheer vulnerability and honesty that is ‘Blogging from the Heart’, why it is so valuable and how the online community of the heart can provide so much support to each other.

Danielle LaPorte’s ‘Desire Map‘ project and current posts continue to cut through to new thinking. Elsewhere, I was reading about email overload this morning and rules about managing this in the workplace in terms of redefining when people can/can’t email and should/shouldn’t read emails. Part of me is thinking, ‘good idea, we need to manage this better in my workplace‘ and another part of me is thinking, ‘well, what about personal choice and the customer, who might want an answer now?’ Shortly after, I read this post from Danielle, Bag your Boundaries. Wham! Love that fresh, pure, direct thinking.’ You can have both, Danielle says:

You can protect yourself and be open-hearted.

Cool! So I am now thinking about how I can do this in my workplace from a different perspective altogether.

And then there’s Chris Guillebeau who probably started all this; through him I linked up with Danielle and then through to Susannah. He has helped me make so many connections – people, thoughts, plans – and is still out there building empires, fostering world domination and writing posts that, like Danielle, make me look at things from a non-conformist standpoint. Take for example, ‘Changing the System’:

If you want something to change, therefore, show us an alternative. Show us a new way of life.

You are the role model. Not the politician, not the celebrity, not the evangelist. Don’t throw up your hands in resignation, and don’t look for another leader.

It’s all on you, in other words. No pressure.

Whew! No pressure indeed! But it’s so true. It’s easy to complain; it’s easy to give up or to look for someone else to lead but the solutions come from taking responsibility and working through to find another way. My work role as a leader is about making a difference. This is the exactly the way I need to lead: finding the alternatives and being the role model, helping us to work through them.

So, I am seeing stars all around me, a constellation of words, thoughts and song that gather and cluster to propel me to also shine.

What stars are you seeing? What’s making you shine?

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