Cormorants, Robins,To-Do Lists… oh my!!
Good evening, good afternoon, or good morning depending on when you’re reading this! I had literally no service or wifi at all Thursday or Friday each time I went to do final edits of this newsletter…(island life), forgive my delay on this! But I had a phone call that added something so key to this offering, that I believe it’s delay was divinely intended…
Despite the wild & unpredictable things life can sometimes throw at us, having the ability to come home to center is always available to you. There’s no better feeling of taking your days on your own terms from a place of presence with your unique patterns. I want to chat this week about a similar theme that we’ve been discussing. The more medicine we can consume within this ‘push’ of Spring energy, that invites us back into the present moment, the better!
let’s take it from this ^^^ to this vvv
Over the last week I’ve been really sitting with the medicine of patience, while it feels like I’m moving a mile a minute. For context, I run two companies and both are very Spring dependent. Meaning: I’m managing hundreds of seedlings, several employees, client calls, proposals, measurements, ordering materials, designing, sending estimates, sourcing plants, answering emails, communicating with contractors, planning deliveries, installations and weather patterns, and the list honestly just keeps on going on and on and on. I also want to put the emphasis on the fact that although the above list is my story, everyone at this time on the wheel of the year has a list of the same scope! So many things to do, manage, see through, interpret, bring to fruition, connect, and have faith in.
What’s been different this year than years past though, is my relationship to my trust in that whatever gets done, gets done. And what does not, doesn’t! What’s different this year from years past is that I don’t feel called to people please and prove to everyone that my burnout is my badge of honor. What is different this year than years past, is that I love myself more than my to-do list.
How does one keep their head above water in these wavy, stormy times though? Not by blasting through it all, but by having autonomy over our mind, body and soul. The Cormorant is a divine teacher of this lesson. Cormorants are seabirds and hunt for fish below the water's surface by diving beneath the waves to harvest their meals. They can live an astonishing 22 years, with most of their life spent at sea, only coming to land during their mating season. They weigh a meager 10 pounds and spend the majority of their time preening their feathers and resting, while on the waves ¾ of their life!
Another bird that caught my attention this week was the Father Robin. As I was brushing my teeth I was peering out the window, watching this Robin go back and forth from these Blue* Spruce trees that its new nest will reside within. It made me think, how often are we so attached to the outcome, we bypass the part where we must gather all the materials before we lay our eggs? These natural metaphors spoke volumes to me this week, so let’s dissect them together!
Doesn’t it feel sometimes when we have so much to do, things wash over us, over and over, and it feels like we are trying to consistently to swim up for air? You see, the waves are out of our control most times. It’s how we respond to them that makes the most difference in how quickly we get back to filling our lungs with a deep breath of fresh air. Attachment to powering through regardless of what our inner flames are trying to get our attention about, is the old way! Not the best way.
The Cormorant does not try to control its reality by swimming through and under each wave, they simply take them as they come and adjust themselves accordingly. Like I said above, they are usually preening (fixing their feathers), or resting. Therefore it only takes the presence and patience these Cormorants exhibit in order to stay stationary within a wavy life. Could you rip one out of the Cormorants book this week, knowing you’re actually more effective and in tune when you stay committed to sacred rest, and the ‘fixing of your feathers’, aka self care. The Cormorant knows for a fact that the waves will come, it does not try to resist them, it allows the Ocean to be the Ocean while the Cormorant stays the Cormorant. This is a metaphor for our lives.. Life is always going to bring us curve balls and roller coasters, how can we accept it for what it is, while knowing we are perfect, loved and enough exactly where and how we are, as humans.
The Robin on the other hand had another lesson to teach. “You must gather the materials before you lay the eggs” it said to me… how infuriating that was to my impatient ego. “I want what I want, and I want it now!” my ego shouted back at this Robin, he just kind of looked at me like Willy Wonka looked at Veruca Salt… Just as the Cormorant was a steward of patience for the waves the Ocean brings to it; the Robin is a master of being patient until they’ve gathered a perfect foundation for their nests, prior to laying their eggs.
What I love as well about this Robin dynamic is that the male Robin is the one who goes and fetches the materials, while the female Robin builds the nest. The masculine in us is the one who must seek out the massage, the supportive talk with a friend or processor, the nourishing meal and the filling of the metaphorical ‘cup’ we all need to fill for ourselves to be grounded and present in this world. The masculine energy says ‘no’ to taking on more than we can handle, it reaches out for slowness and support, it takes the action in brings what we need home to us… The feminine is the one who receives that support and nourishment once it’s brought to her doorstep, the feminine organizes it properly so it can be of service to said ‘cup’, anchoring in foundation and wholeness. The feminine energy knows it is worthy of receivership, and of being the light house our stormy souls can come home to, and be held once there. Both roles are so essential for keeping us in the centers of our being-ness.
Which one of your sides, masculine or feminine have been out of balance lately? I’ve been doing too much masculine seeking, hunting & pursuing for what’s mine and not so much of allowing myself the inherent support & nurturance my feminine energy wants to provide for me.
All this to say, tuning into intuition here about what it is that you actually need is so key. Discerning between what your ego wants and what your human body actually needs from you. Between what your soul is seeking out and what your boss is expecting of you. What lights you up and what takes away your flame? A beautiful friend who happens to be a high earner and high achiever in life called me out of the blue* yesterday and shared with me two quotes I think fit very nicely in this article. You know who you are if you’re reading this! And I absolutely cherish you!!!
She said to me “Strategy is less about what you do, and more about what you don’t do”, and… “No. Is. Love.”.
This is important to note because if it’s our intuition that helps us discern what we need in these low moments, that means that we must have patience. Intuition and patience are synonymous to me. You cannot force your intuition to relinquish messages to you like telling a dog to sit or lay down. It doesn’t respond to orders or demands. It responds to deep patience and understanding, your intuition will let you know what the deal is once you allow it the space and time to do so. What you can control though, is your choices. You can control wether to answer the phone when someone is calling who you know will drain your energy. You have control over making yourself tea and reading before bed, instead of scrolling social media or binging Netflix. You can control what you say “No” to that shows your inner wisdom you love it and wish to caretake it even in the turbulent seas of life.
Just like the Cormorant doesn’t try to control the waves, and the Robin doesn’t lay their eggs before they’ve gathered their nest together… how could you breathe patience into your life ahead? How can you talk to yourself like you would a dear friend, and support whatever it is that you might be needing? Let’s also keep in mind, that Robins’ eggs are a beautiful blue* color, and blue* is the rarest color in Nature.. I want to also point our attention to how Blue* Lotus, one of the more famous blue* herbs throughout millennia, represents intuition among many other things. Intuition however is Blue Lotus’s claim to fame, used in ceremony and for lucid dreaming as far back as anyone can remember. This herb helps to not only relax the body and the mind, but also uplift the spirit to commune with the subtle, higher realms.. gaining sacred insight. Much like the Robin gathering their materials before laying their eggs, and the Cormorant fixing their feathers to comfortably ride the waves of life… Blue Lotus invites us to relax and reprieve in order to be open enough to be gifted the next step.
If intuition and patience are synonymous, that would mean you must wait for the messages and the illuminated path forward, and that is not a mistake. As we’ve seen above this pattern repeats itself over and over in Nature, where can you notice it in your own life?
In this world of humans who’ve been built to be machines, how can you defy that narrative in this week ahead? And when you do, imagine me cheering you on in Spirit!
You are loved so much regardless of if you do it all, some of it, or none of it.
I promise!
With much love and gratitude,
Taryn xx
