It’s Time to Fly…the Wisdom of the Woodpecker

Labor Day Weekend Already

I’m sitting outside at the round white plastic table with the red, white and blue starred cotton tablecloth on the wrap-around porch that we painted a fresh shiny white in early July…listening to the birds, seeing beautiful black-eyed Susan bushes poking through the porch rungs and spying a huge spider web on the clematis trellis…just taking it all in…barefoot on the concrete porch floor…sipping coffee in the late morning.  I feel grateful to be sitting here, experiencing this peace and calm at this moment of my life…grateful for my supporting family…for the great energy connections that exist between all of us and the universe…grateful that we have found each other in this life…grateful for the opportunities I’ve had this summer to travel, to have my allergies discovered and cleared, grateful to have developed relationships with friends and deepening ties with family, that I found quiet times to write in my journal and developed the discipline to do so.  I am even grateful for the piles of mail and papers strewn across my desk because they are all connections to new and exciting possibilities.  I am not feeling saddened or anxious as summer draws to a close and my vacation ends.  I am looking forward to the next phase…to what comes next.  New challenges, new chances to grow…wow…just saw a downy woodpecker…new chances to find peace within, to get rid of ego, to share what I know and have learned, to heal and be healed.  As I write this…a big bumblebee is circling around my head…the circle of life.  I can hear the woodpecker pecking, here comes a yellow jacket, I hear the footsteps of the kids next door running up and down their driveway.  While I sip my coffee with cream…a mourning  dove begins to coo.  Bright red cherry tomatoes and bright, shiny, red hot peppers on the vine glisten in the sun…ready to eat…sun-ripened…the best kind of produce…grown with love at home.

What will the new season bring I wonder?  I go inside and find my copy of Animal Speak by Ted Andrews.  I find the page about woodpeckers to see what message this beautiful bird brought to me this day. 

“Sometimes the woodpecker will show up to stimulate new rhythms.  Rhythm is a powerful means of affecting the physical energies.  Sometimes it is easy to get so wrapped up in our daily mental and spiritual activities that we neglect the physical.  This can be when the woodpecker shows up.  It may also reflect a need to drum some new changes and rhythms into your life.”  “The black and white reflects the need to see issues and aspects of life clearly.  It reflects that things are fairly clear if we look closely.”  “The red reflects a stimulation and wakening of new mental faculties.”  “It (the woodpecker) flies in a manner and rhythm unique to itself.  All of this serves to emphasize the fact that it will become increasingly important for you to follow your own unique rhythms and flight.  Do what works for you in the manner best for you.  When the woodpecker comes into your life, it indicates that the foundation is there.  It is now safe to follow your own rhythms.”

It’s time for me to celebrate my uniqueness..to find my own path…to be myself…to find my own rhythm…to realize that my foundation is solid…that I am safe.  It’s time to fly!