Making
peace with the pigeons
“ Acceptance makes any event put on a new face.”
~ Henry S.
Haskinsl ~
 Pigeons! What do pigeons have to do with personal growth, you might ask?
Everything! The pigeons are offering me a perfect testing ground to walk my
talk, so I thought I’d share the journey with you. You can substitute whatever
is pushing your buttons right now for the pigeons in my story.
We have wild bird feeders on our deck and we just love the variety of birds that
come to call. A few weeks ago, we found a domestic pigeon in our feeder. That
was interesting. Then this first pigeon brought friends, multiple times every
day. We can now have 9 pigeons crowding into our feeders at once. I haven’t been
very happy with this.
What’s to be done?
I know that what we resist, persists. I also know that we get what we focus on.
I’m both resisting and focusing on the pigeon visits. I think that’s why more
and more of them are coming!
For peace, I need to let go of resistance and move into acceptance. Replace
irritation with appreciation. Replace my anger with love. The reality is that
pigeons are coming to the feeders. Accept that.
My ego and my wallet (they eat a lot!) don’t want to accept this.
But I aspire to live with awareness that all is one. At the quantum level,
scientists have proven that the pigeons and I are connected.
So how do I make my peace with them? Well ...
- What if I find them beautiful?
- What if I appreciate the miracle of their beings?
- What if I let go of trying to control life and embrace it as it is
instead?
- What if I enjoy this life lesson in acceptance?
- What if I move into love for these pigeons? ...
Will they then go away?
Ha! How manipulative is that! I don’t expect it will work. I’m sure my
appreciation has to be genuine, and if I truly love the pigeons, I will no
longer mind if they’re around.
Another key point - solutions may unfold that I haven’t even contemplated. For
example, other people may put up a feeder, the pigeons may come one at a time,
the owner of the pigeons might move... I can open to receive miracles!
Okay, now to actually do it!
“Blessed
are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.”
~ Unknown ~
“Flow
with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting
whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.”
~ Chuang
Tzu ~
“The
world offers itself to me in a thousand ways, and I ache with an awareness of
how infrequently
I am able to receive more than a small fraction of what is offered, of how often
I reject what is because
I feel it is not good enough.”
~ Oriah
Mountain Dreamer ~
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