My weekend trip to Ashton Gardens in Lehi, Utah led me to discover a hummingbird garden where I took pictures while sitting on a bench. As I observed the hummingbirds and people going by, I became aware of some interesting insights.
What can a few minutes of photographing hummingbirds teach us about life? A lot more than I ever imagined! Read on for my reflections (and, yes, the photos in this article are from Ashton Gardens).
Midair: Motion in Stillness
Life lessons from hummingbirds
Have you ever tried to photograph hummingbirds? Unlike recording them on video darting from flower to flower, taking still photographs of hummingbirds requires patience.
My camera was often too slow and too late to capture a focused frame of them in flight. So, I found myself sitting on a bench across from the flower garden, waiting for perfect photo opportunities with my Nikon Coolpix.
In the middle of the broad flower bed is a large Leggo creation of a butterfly landing on a pink flower. These amazing Leggo creations by Sean Kenney are scattered all over Ashton Gardens (e.g. peacock, doe and deer, and hummingbird).
I noticed the Leggo butterfly many times when walking by, but never the hummingbirds. However, while returning to my car on Saturday, I noticed a hummingbird darting around.
As I looked closer, I saw dozens of them. They made strange chirping sounds like a cricket clearing its throat and hovered in midair with 80/second wingbeats—motion and stillness in complete harmony. Though happily occupied sipping flower nectar, their eyes seem to peer at the world in a perpetual glare, intense and angry.
My heightened focus and attention while waiting for photographic opportunities soon led to some interesting observations about the people passing by . . .
The majority of them didn't notice the hummingbirds. Like me, their eyes immediately focused on the Leggo butterfly. They stopped to admire it, and many read aloud how many Leggos it took to build it and walked on. With the same ease in which they noticed the plastic exhibit, they missed nature's living exhibit.
The individuals that talked loudly didn't get to see the hummingbirds. Long before they got near the garden, their voices caused the birds to hide in the pine trees across the way.
However, one family was uniquely favored by the hummingbirds. Quite a few birds flew near their heads and legs. A boy in the family pointed out the tiny hummingbirds resting on pine branches behind me. What sharp eyes!
"There's something different about that family—something good about them," I thought. "They don't scare the birds away."
Whenever the go-carts drove by and leave fumes behind, the birds avoid the area. After a while, they'll soon fly over to feed again. One driver of a go-cart kept repeating, "I'm so sorry," when driving past a child sitting in a wheelchair. He seemed to be sorry for more than the act of driving by.
Earlier, I saw wedding tables and chairs arranged at the rose garden. Wedding guests dressed for the formal event strode by my bench. They had no time to admire neither the Leggo butterfly nor the hummingbirds.
A woman from the wedding party (mother of the bride?) looked serious and stressed as she talked about last-minute concerns and arrangements for the wedding. A few hours later, the weather became extremely windy with some rain. I thought of them and hoped they had enough time to celebrate.
While sitting there, paying attention, and pondering quietly, I absorbed many lessons:
the value of being quiet
how easy it is to miss the small, ephemeral things in life
stillness and motion can coincide in one harmonious whole
evidence of human compassion for a stranger
how stressful life events can be blinders to life's beauties
discerning from the patterns and preferences of birds
patience and waiting yield insights
Amazing growth can happen when we quiet ourselves and stop moving from one task to another. Everything in life invites us to ponder and learn. Like the hummingbirds, let's integrate stillness as part of daily motion, allowing motion and stillness to be one harmonious whole in our lives!
The Holistic Psychiatrist Podcast (Ep. 30):
Seven Prerequisites for Successful Healing
Check out the teaser by clicking on the photo below.
Everyone wants to heal and be whole--free from dependency on drugs and symptoms. Does sheer desperation lead to success or are there other important factors that play a role? What makes some people successful and others not?
After decades of experience, I have come to recognize seven prerequisites for successful healing. Without them, the healing journey can get mired midway or end up in self-sabotaging choices. Before you go on a trip, even your own healing journey, know what you need to take along in order to reach your desired destination! Listen as Jack Rome interviews me on this important topic!
Click here for the full episode available on Wednesday.
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