Point to Ponder: There are four distinct phases in life of a human being. Childhood, Youth (learning about various aspects of life), Adult-Prime Time ( Family, Career, take care of Aging Parents) and Adult-Golden Years (Service to living beings, Detachment from things). I believe when a Mockingbird sings, it sings songs representing every phase of life.
Story Line: Songs of the Mockingbird
The transition to enjoying the flow of life has offered its own unique challenges. Coming from the world of taking charge and being on top of things; to the world of observing things as they are, immersing deeply into them, and flowing with them has required strong commitment and efforts on my part. The process is still ongoing but the experiences so far have been fun and educational.
A few weeks ago, we were blessed with the responsibility of taking care of three grandchildren and three large Labradors (Doja Beladona, Cal and Miko), all while caring for our own dog named Zena Doolittle (who is very territorial by the way).
Initially, the thought of having a full house triggered my old instinct to to plan the logistics of everyone's care. Instead, I contained the urge and decided to go with the flow of life. The test of all my years of leadership training came into play when my two older grandchildren and four dogs started playing in the house at full force; running, tackling, and Zena Doolittle eventually starting to display her territorial instincts. In that near crisis I had to resort to the closest thing available to bring law and order; the broom which was very helpful in directing everyone in their place. My wife, who was holding the little one and watching this entire show, pointed out that I looked like a ringmaster in the lion’s cage at the circus. At least I had a more humane tool and no flogging or electric shock stick.
That brings me to the other experience of watching this hummingbird, a daily visitor to our garden, create a nest in the small housing for decorative garden lights without understanding the risks involved. We watched the entire process from laying eggs, hatching, having two beautiful babies and how they prepared for take-off into the real world. Even hummingbirds have a very sound program for training the new arrivals for integration into the real world.
Birth to Empty Nest (Phase 1 and Phase 2 of life)
And as the spring arrived so came the different kinds of birds with their own songs. Especially the Mockingbird, who is much like what we used to term an ideal employee in the old days: the first in to arrive at work and last one to leave. He sings his heart out with songs in many different tunes from early morning to late evening on the top of a big PG&E pole in our backyard, occasionally moving to the nearby tree to entertain our other neighbors. Even many of my (still working) friends who have come by the house feel energized by the bird's songs.
I can share many such experiences with observing the different colors of dragonflies, invading herons (Koi Killers), squirrels and pigeons looking to raid this year's fruit crops but I would like to end with one amazing experience about the flow of life that happened yesterday.
Prime Time (Phase 3 of life)
One of the first Kois in our pond left us after 10 wonderful years. Our son decided to give her a proper burial and also involve his son in the process with his partner, me and my mother participating. It is hard to lose a friend, especially so for the animal kingdom variety, and we said farewell with heavy hearts. I believe this was the first exposure to this part of the flow of life for my grandson but I am not still sure he grasped the totality of it. But watching him go through it brought back memories of the book Totto Chan as well as my childhood school principal Vajubhai who taught us many things with the real life episodes.
Eventuality of The Flow of Life (end of Phase 4)
Reflection: For me the process of immersing in the flow of life has a long way to go. Still at times the urge to go back to my old methods (FMEA, Get in Control) kicks in, but with awareness and discipline the balance is shifting in a new direction. The thing I wonder is if such enjoyment can be done in the previous phase of life, if only we are aware of it at all; we are concerned in the busiest (and often earliest) phase where we have just started the first career job/business, our families, and are still learning about finances. For me, phase 3 was the most intense phase of life and I realize that if I had somehow learned to relax, let go and immerse in the flow of life, it might have helped in all other aspects of my life. I wonder if that is true of others and if it is true of your life as well?