A Gift From Nature!

     "As you begin to study and honor the birds you encounter at such times, you will find yourself being gifted with feathers. You will find them everywhere you go. You will also be presented them by others in your life who may not know why they are giving you such a present but only that it feels right for you." ~ Animal Speak by Ted Andrews

     There I sat, legs crossed, underneath a canopy of trees at the back of my yard. The summer was coming to a close. Eyes closed, I began taking deep, slow breaths to relax my body. To clear my mind. Concentrating on the rustling sound of the warm breeze through the leaves. The occasional bird could be heard chirping away.

     Once perfect(cough) calmness was achieved, I began to envision the environment around me. To see the environment around me...the grass below me...the sky above. I was a bird standing in my backyard. After taking in my surroundings, my wings began to flap and I was lifting away from the ground. I could see the earth pull away from me and feel the wind intensify. I was flying.

     The sounds of birds chirping around me began to increase a little. The book said this would happen and to welcome it. When you appreciate and embrace nature, nature will appreciate and embrace you back. I spent the next few minutes circling over my backyard. When doing this, it's important to engage your senses. To actually feel the wind against your feathers, actually feel your wings flapping. To see everything through a bird's eyes. I could see my house and the street in front of it. I could see for miles around.

     By now, the chirping around me had become so intense, it was beginning to overwhelm me. It did, in fact, bring me out of my meditation. As I blinked my eyes open, I expected to see a hundred birds around me. That's what it sounded like in my head. Looking around I saw none. The environment was exactly as it was when I first sat down. I couldn't help but smile. It felt good to actually experience something that seemed so fantastical when I read about it. Little did I know, nature wasn't through with me yet.

     Two days later I opened up my front door and there in front of me, lying on the porch, was a feather. Seeing a feather on my front porch did happen from time to time so it could have been a coincidence, I thought. Still, I smiled and went about my day.

     The following month, for my birthday, one of my aunts approached me with a gift. Now this aunt had never given me a gift and hasn't since. A couple of times, when I was a kid, she gave me a card. She even said to me, "I know I don't usually get you anything, but I saw this and thought you'd like it." Being a former Catholic nun, I was expecting her gift to be religious in nature. Never did I expect to see what I did see. A dream catcher. And what are attached to dream catchers? Feathers.

_{The dream catcher hanging in my bedroom.}

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