Hummingbird aka Kiss-Flower

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Hummingbirds And Honey Bees

Getting ready for work one morning, I looked out my kitchen window and spied a hummingbird flitting amongst the flowering bushes in my backyard.

As the hummingbird lifted up from sipping a flower, it stopped mid-air. A honey bee had appeared and the two of them hovered in space directly facing one another. Long moments passed while they had, what appeared to be, quite a serious conversation.

Inter-Species Conversation

It was amazing to see this take place, suspended in the air, right in front of me. Remarkable, because hummingbirds and bees are some of the rare species that can actually hover.

They both flew a few inches further and then stopped again, bee nose to hummingbird beak. It would appear there was more to say. It really did seem that they chatted with purpose and intensity.

Then, the honey bee buzzed off into space and the hummingbird zipped back to another tempting flower. I couldn't tell who had the final word.

For the rest of the morning I wondered what that conversation was all about. Perhaps they were discussing the merits of the nearby flowers. Perhaps they were disputing territorial rights. Or, perhaps, it was a simple inter-species conversation of, "Hey, I see you. You can hover too!"

One of the unsolved, only witnessed, mysteries of nature.

Also Known As Kiss-Flower

One of my friends, whose heritage hails from Portugal, informed me that the word for hummingbird in Portuguese is "beija-flor."  This translates literally into "Kiss-Flower."

Talk about poetic language. "It was delightful to see a Kiss-Flower in my garden today."

Connecting With Nature With TRT®

When you're outside, you can use The Radiance Technique® (TRT®) to expand your awareness of nature. It's possible to deepen your connection with plants and wildlife through the use of TRT® hands-on while observing the many creatures who share the planet with us.

There is much to be learned from nature, even in our own backyards. As we watch hummingbirds and honey bees flit from blossom to blossom and listen to their buzzing sounds as they zoom here and there, our hearts are reminded to rejoice in the natural beauty that surrounds us.

May you be blessed with many Kiss-Flowers (beija-flores – hummingbirds) and honey bees in your garden.

 

Earth Day Selfie – Every Day

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A Selfie Of Planet Earth

22 April 2014

Earth Day – Celebrated Every Year

In case you're wondering how we looked on Earth Day this year, NASA snapped this selfie.

Can you see yourself?  You're there.  In the moment.

In fact, we're all there... together.

Perhaps that's the point.  Looking at this is a reminder of how we are all in this together.

That can either reassure us or terrorize us, depending on which day we look at it..

How do you like your selfie?

 

The Unseen Hand Of God

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Clunking While Geese Are Soaring

A cold evening spilled out across the darkening land as I dutifully dragged myself along in my requisite exercise-jog.

I was distracted from my discomfort when I spied a flock of Canadian geese in an open field. Finished with their eventide grazing, they lifted en masse into a pale wintery sky.

Strong wings beat up and down as they rose higher and higher. The strokes of their wings were audible as their feathers pushed against the cold night air. They gathered together across the icy blue expanse and eventually became a single line.

One goose dropped lower, slowed down a bit and then, rose back up into the line to take its place behind another.

Who would know why?

Held By The Unseen Hand Of God

My heart ached as I watched their flight. Joy and pain tumbled within me.

It looked like so much work to flap those wings over and over to keep them skimming across the wide expanse of atmosphere. Nothing else holding them up except, perhaps, the unseen hand of God.

From my awkward and earthbound state, I was reminded how brutish and dull I am in comparison to their lightness of being.

Watching their skyward journey, I held them in my heart as they traveled their sky-path.

An Overgrown, Wild Place

The honking call from their white-slashed throats resonated to an overgrown, wild place tucked inside my heart.

Like my fellow humans across the centuries, I found myself wishing that I could fly, free of metal or mechanics.

With all our technology, there is nothing we do that comes close to their level of mastery, grace, and elevated simplicity.

 

Where Is The Edge Of An Infinite Heart?

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An Infinite Heart Has No Edge

Questions abound.

Can we love to the ends of the Universe?

Can our hearts soar wide enough?

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand,
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
To hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.”
— William Blake
 

What Is The Infinite Heart Of Love?

Can we see every drop of existence and find the hidden passageway to its heart of love?

Can we fully know, beyond the limits of the mind, the exquisite light and healing love within every nano-molecule of existence?

Is this heart of love even within a grain of sand?

Let’s answer this with a resounding yes. These photos show the wonders that Dr. Gary Greenberg* discovered at the microscopic level in the sand on our beaches.

Flight Within The Inner Realms

Flying on this planet is so three-dimensional.

Flight within the realms of the inner planes is multi-dimensional. An inner journey is so vast and incomprehensible at our small human level, that it compels us to plop down right where we stand.

Our feet are whisked right out from under us in the wonder of it all.

Can we break these surly bonds without the aid of a flying machine?

Surly Bonds Will Not Contain Us

Off we go on your path of discovery into the infinite heart.

Let's meet each other there.

 

*photos by Dr. Greenberg used with permission

 

Heart Crumble And A Red-Winged Blackbird

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A Red-Winged Blackbird

I do my walk/jog on my lunch break in a field off to the side of the hospital.

There's a red-winged blackbird that must have a nest near-by. 

He is always perched on tall grasses, in the same spot, and every time I go past, up into the air he goes, flitting above my head, scolding and chastising me until I move further away.

This same activity occurs when I return.

painting by Sandra Merwin

Sweetness And Courage

I wish I could somehow reassure him that I will not go near his nest, but my human communication fails to cross the divide.

This little, brave being. Brave because, after all, he is so small and I am so big in comparison.

Despite our gargantuan size difference, his little heart of courage beat strong. He refused to be intimidated by this lumbering, clunky human passing by.

His sweetness, courage and tenacity crumble my heart into tiny pieces in the holy wonder and love of "all God's creatures, great and small."