The first time I saw parakeets flying free was in Northern India – an eye-opening sight to behold. The beautiful, bright green, miniature birds were flying, sitting in trees, chirping and doing what free birds do. They weren’t sitting in a cramped cage with a mirror to look into to keep them from going crazy in confinement. I realized as I stood gazing up at them that despite knowing that parakeets really do fly, I had always equated them with little caged birds, with clipped wings. I hadn’t thought beyond that until I saw them in their natural habitat and that was a result of the limits I placed on my thinking – of not allowing my thoughts to expand.

It’s similar to the question we’ve heard before,
‘Do you see the glass of water as half-full or half-empty?’.
       We assume the question refers to the water in the glass, but what about the air?
The glass is always full with a mix of air and water. It’s another example of how we limit our thinking.

Recently I moved from one part of the country to another and with that came a lot of ‘goodbyes’ and ‘so longs’ to many friends, colleagues and co-workers. During that time I began to notice the different ways we view distance. Some folks viewed the pending distance between us as a barrier or an obstacle and I sensed that the bond of our relationship would soon fray and unwind. Others however had a different perspective, one not so focused on the pending distance as much as the ways that our relationship would remain in tact; albeit in different ways. As I prepared to move I considered which bonds would fray and which ones would remain and why. I knew that I would be willing to hold onto my end of the proverbial tie that bound our relationship but I couldn’t hold onto theirs.

We can view distance as an obstacle too difficult to prevent a bond from breaking or we can view it as a stepping stone that carries us to a different level of relationship; the choice is ours. I have begun to experience the unravelling of the bond with some and the strengthening of the bond with others; it has been an interesting observation and experience.

This reflection isn’t intended to judge right versus wrong only to observe…to contemplate…and to learn how we view things and to understand that our perspective, our choices and our thinking creates our life experience.

Thanks for reading,
~ Haven