Petting a Hummingbird (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Petting a Hummingbird

[ButterflyWoman]

That was the most beautiful thing I've read in a long time. I know hummingbirds (spent most of my childhood in Arizona), and they're quite elusive. To actually pet one is... amazing and dreamlike. To me, it seems nearly impossible, but here you are, doing it. Astounding (and a message to me about impossible things).

Can't remember if I've ever commented on one of your posts, Steve, but this one really sang to me (the one about waking up had a deep effect, as well, but not something I wanted to share about).

Perhaps the hummingbird is your spirit animal totem. Or perhaps it's all just a dream. Or both...

Thank you for that post. Truly.

[supertom]

I love this story its beautiful, It was vivid like this was recalling from my own memory.

[Sansone]

I interpret this as the universe presenting you with an opportunity to publish the word adorified, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by Sansone

I interpret this as the universe presenting you with an opportunity to publish the word adorified, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[jasonkostempski]

I know you've recently mentioned making your site a little nicer. If you know someone that could take a good picture of that interaction, it would make a fantastic image representing the core concepts of your blog.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by jasonkostempski

I know you've recently mentioned making your site a little nicer. If you know someone that could take a good picture of that interaction, it would make a fantastic image representing the core concepts of your blog.

Interesting idea. We actually took some photos yesterday.

[Lynn 007]

What a nice story and I'm a tiny bit envious. We have hummingbird feeders all around the cottage and I've only talked to them; never attempted to get close. They are beautiful birds.

[ju474]

I don’t know if this post will hold any meaning for you, but it was a happy experience I wanted to share. Hummingbirds are really cute.

To share joy and happiness is always enough value.

Thanks a lot!

[irunthereforeiam]

Steve,
Thanks for sharing this experience. The way i see it is that is that our thoughts and feelings are picked up by things all around us. Inspiring!!

[invisiblehouses]

The cracks in the scenery are starting to accumulate: Just this morning, several hours before this post was published, we were visited by a hummingbird on our front porch. It was the first one I'd ever seen around our house, and we've lived here for almost eight years.

Verdict: dreaming!

[Andrew Brunelle]

Today, while jogging, I came across an alligator and petted it. Next, I'm going to try and pet the Tazmanian Devil. I'll see how that goes and report back.

[freddy]

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

Today, while jogging, I came across an alligator and petted it. Next, I'm going to try and pet the Tazmanian Devil. I'll see how that goes and report back.

I was thinking along those lines in away. Could you have a intention of good feelings and pet a spitting cobra, or a wild hippo. And live to tell about it?

[ellie]

Awesome! I love hummingbirds, I didn't know they were a symbol of joy...must be why I like drawing them so much

That would be so cool to pat one.

[curiouslyrandom]

Thank you for sharing this, Steve.

Hummingbird was my mother's totem. The house I moved to after she died had so many in the garden it was amazing. This spring we had a hummingbird nest in the jasmine arbor over our front door. I watched the bird gathering spiderwebs from shrubs in front of the window to build the nest, which I had only ever heard about before. Sadly, the nest was disturbed by high winds and the eggs were lost.

[mrthejazz]

I did that once with a butterfly. I was reading the blog posts of a Buddhist friend of mine, and he very much enabled me to be at peace.

Only when I was able to calm my mind and put myself in a feeling of complete serenity was I able to allow the butterfly to land on me. Of course in my case I cheated a little. I had a spring of a flower the butterfly liked and that attracted it. Still, it was fearless enough to land on me.

The Buddhist wrote that "a bird in the hand is not yours."

It was a metaphor for how we live our lives. We can extend out our hands and let the bird choose to come to us, or we can chase after it. Once the bird is in our hands, we can choose to try to clench it, to never let go, but of course that more often than not kills the bird. If the bird flies away, it may or may not come back, but if we try and struggle to keep it, it will never come back again.

The bird represents most of the great wonderful things in our lives. Our knowledge is not ours. Our bodies are not ours. Our things, pretty much all the ego yearns for is not ours. When the bird flies away, what will you choose? Will you choose to be remorseful that it's gone, or thankful that you were able to experience that moment of bliss?

That blog post, which no longer exists by the way , was a huge inspiration for me at the time. Seeing what Steve wrote today made me think that there really is something to this synchronicity theory. It's just too coincidental.

[Asten]

Beautiful and inspiring experience. Thanks for sharing. I like the idea of using the image on your blog--it's certainly symbolic.

Reminded me of when I used to pet the fuzz on bees' thoraxes as a kid. Wonder if I have the guts to pet the dream bees now.

[cacheborn]

What a delightful story. Would love to see the pics.

I have a house lizard who naps during the day in my window and goes hunting at night. Watching her move reminds me of T-Rex in Jurassic Park.

[Asmoday]

Definitely think you're right about the subjective-reality underpinnings in the experience, Steve. It will be interesting to see the results of this sequel experiment. Listened to this the other day and thought of you -- the subjective reality underpinnings to the lyrics, not so much the pain and boo-hoo:

YouTube - ‪Nine Inch Nails - Only‬‏

[Harmonium]

strange, watched this shortly before reading this post

Guy rescues baby hummingbird after it was attacked. [VIDEO]

[Acting Like Godot]

I have petted a sunbird before. They are similar to hummingbirds.



It had grown exhausted, after being trapped in a building with large glass doors. It was pretty much fluttering around on the ground, banging its head against a glass door.

I gently picked it up, held it in two hands and took it outside, and let it go. Yes, quite a lovely experience.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by mrthejazz

Only when I was able to calm my mind and put myself in a feeling of complete serenity was I able to allow the butterfly to land on me.

Here is a neat trick for catching a mosquito.

Relax your body and allow a mosquito to land on an exposed part of your body, eg your forearm.

Let it start biting and sucking. Then tense up your forearm muscles, hard as you can.

Surprise! The mosquito is caught. It cannot fly away. Its proboscis is stuck in your flesh.

As long as you maintain tension in your forearm, the mosquito cannot escape. You can now kill it in a leisurely manner.

[Acting Like Godot]

Originally Posted by freddy

I was thinking along those lines in away. Could you have a intention of good feelings and pet a spitting cobra, or a wild hippo. And live to tell about it?

Timothy Treadwell lived among grizzly bears, yes, and also petted them, for 12 summers, and lived to tell those stories. In the 13th summer, however, he got killed by a grizzly bear.

I have petted a lion. And held pythons.

(Also, I ran away at top speed from a large cobra. I don't do venomous snakes).

Tigers are commonly petted, at a certain temple in Thailand.

[Keith]

Does anyone else find it fascinating that the "Petting a Hummingbird" blog post got 160% as many responses as the "Living your Life Purpose" one?

Steve, you've clearly misfocussed your blog all these years.

[Angelique]

Originally Posted by Keith

Does anyone else find it fascinating that the "Petting a Hummingbird" blog post got 160% as many responses as the "Living your Life Purpose" one?

Steve, you've clearly misfocussed your blog all these years.

You think so? I saw it as a natural sequence. Perfect for illustrating the 'living' part.

[Angelique]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

Tigers are commonly petted, at a certain temple in Thailand.

I've wondered about what it's like to pet them. I don't know if I could do it, but I'm totally fascinated with the idea of it. Part of me really wants to.

[Asten]

Originally Posted by Keith

Does anyone else find it fascinating that the "Petting a Hummingbird" blog post got 160% as many responses as the "Living your Life Purpose" one?

Steve, you've clearly misfocussed your blog all these years.

I had that thought too.

Those tigers are gorgeous! I'd love the opportunity to interact with them like that.

[AngelPsychic444]

Steve,
Great blog on the hummingbirds! It's so nice you can finally touch one! I would love to see the pics someday!

In the past, I've worked with "nature spirits", and have asked for their help with having birds come up to me so I can feed them out of my hand. I only do this from time to time, most of the time I just feed them by giving them birdseed or maybe some cookies I have (while eating outside of starbucks, they flock around me). Anyway, if you ask the fairies of hummningbirds to help you out (in addition to making intent statements), I'm sure you could get even more spectacular results with the birds.

I've done this with sparrows lately, as I feed them when near a park, sometimes they come right up to me after I ask the nature spirits to tell all the birds I'm their friend and won't hurt them. Sometimes it's so cool the way they sneak up on me, when I least expect it too, they always have surprises waiting for me when I request help from the fairies of sparrows, (I also ask the angels of sparrows too). The good part is they come from all around to check me out, the not really bad part, but it can get frustrating, is that they begin to follow me around all the time...lol. Even when I don't have anything to feed them, or I'm busy out and about doing chores or whatever, but it's such fun, they are like little kids looking for a treat.

I've done with the tree's too, I read in a fairie book, that you can ask the fairies to help you locate a "soulmate" tree and in turn begin to develop a relationship with it. I did this while living in Los Angeles and was "given" or introduced to a soulmate tree, as it turns out I think this tree was almost 300 years old, and it was in a park. It was the most amazing thing I've even done, to say that I could actually "feel" this tree while standing near it was something I could never do with other tree's. I would also do "healings" while sitting with my back touching the tree, sensing the tree sending me energy or clearing my energy was an amazing experience.

In case anyone would like to try this with tree's, the book that has the info in is called "Healing with the fairies" by Doreen Virtue.

Keep up the good with with the birds Steve, it would be cool to see you go deeper with the hummingbirds and really have a "give and take" relationship. It's been said that when you help nature, nature helps you.... plus there will be plenty of amazing surprizes waiting for you if you do this, your life with be richer for it!

Hang in there.....

John

[nzmegs]

We don't have Hummingbirds in this country, so I don't really have a picture in my mind of what one looks like. But birds in general have always fascinated me.

Your post brought to mind my favourite book/movie - Birdy. A young man who loves birds so much that his real life and his fantasy of becoming a bird become intertwined. he stops knowing where his real life begins and ends. In the end as a reader, you also start to wonder.

My daughter often tells me she woudl love to be a bird and that if she was, she would always allow people to hold her and stroke her. She says she wouldn't be afraid becuase she could always fly away from harm if she needed to.

Your little bird has the ability to decide its fate in a way many of us don't. it could fly away if it liked and the fact it knows this allows it to be more brave than most of us.

[Savage]

One of the hummingbird eggs hatched today, so there's a new baby hummingbird in the nest. It's smaller than the tip of my pinky.

There's a second egg next to it, but it hasn't hatched yet.

The mother hummingbird is hanging out nearby and frequently visits the nest.