21 Seconds With A Blue Jay

Simply being present with anything that's here. It doesn't have to be special. It doesn't have to be amazing. It doesn't even have to be pleasant.

The last couple of weeks have had Sunday pause moments with special birds in special places. But this week has a deeper level of poignancy. This bird is closer to home.

Every year I see a new generation of blue jays trying to build their nests on this particular storm drain.

There is something that I know that they can't know.

During the next big rain this nest will be flooded out. At that bend in the storm drain torrential waters will be pouring out of the gaps and drowning the nest.

Right now the skies are clear. Right now there is no storm water. Right now that corner of the storm drain seems like a perfect platform for nesting. But I have seen the patterns through the seasons and I have a human's ability to live in the future as well as in the now.

If we were to have a classroom discussion about this example of real life there are a number of different pathways that we could choose to follow.

For this week, perhaps we'll start with this:

Even though during the practice of mindfulness we do our best to return to the present moment, there are sometimes when thoughts about the future can be quite useful!

To 100% live in the present moment being 100% mindfulness 24/7 would be inflexible and too extreme.

Does this example from the life of a blue jay spark any ideas in your mind? Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts.