Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

July 27, 2017 By Admin

The Tao of Nature: Two Stories about Robins

 

The Tao of Nature

I have two interesting stories about nesting robins.  These stories tell of the bonds of birds and their young, and how intelligent these birds can be. The first story happened to me abut 15 years ago. The second story happened today, July 27, 2017.

Story 1

I was working in my yard when a large robin flew by my head.  I paid little attention to this at that time.  Then I noticed that the robin continued to dive-bomb towards my head but never making direct contact.  It seemed to be trying to move me away from the spot I was working in. I have no idea if this was a mother robin or a father robin, since both tend their nests and feed their young. This strange behavior continued for some time, until the robin had forced me to move within two feet of of our above-ground pool. The robin persisted by flying closer and closer to my head, to “push” me closer and closer to the pool until I reached its frame. Then I saw it. Then I realized how this intelligent bird figured out a way to get me to see its chick now having great difficulty staying afloat in the pool water. I knew I could not touch the chick, but I had to save it. So in the pool I went and netted it in an old bird nest sitting on the deck. I placed the “saved” chick in the nest on the deck just high enough to protect it from cats and allow its parents to come to its rescue.  Soon they were feeding it. In a few days the chick was gone and so were the parents. I assume it flew correctly without landing in what must have seemed to be a gigantic ocean to the very small chick. I experienced very strong feelings of gratitude at that time. Gratitude for my actions, for the chick, and for its parents. Gratitude for the beautiful and mysterious Tao of nature surrounding me in life.

Story 2

I looked out my dinning room window to see a large robin chick dangling on the edge of its nest.  This was the second time this Summer that robins had hatched chicks in the same nest on a porch rafter. It looked like the chick caught itself in some plastic string used in building the nest.  The poor bird was just dangling, struggling helplessly, hopelessly. I had to do something.  When I went out to investigate the chick began to screech out of fear, and several large robins flew by my on the porch.  I think they were simply warning me, flying very close to me simply trying to save their third chick.  I had seen three small heads pop up each time an adult delivered food to the nest. So what to do? I did not want to leave the chick to its fate, and I did not want robins pecking at my head in defense of their own.  I grabbed a flat piece of wood and a scissors; I went out to the porch, quickly cut the plastic string and caught the chick in its fall on the board. The chick landed eventually on the porch floor. It was breathing heavy, and I think its leg had been injured in the tangle. By that time several robins were harassing me; they meant business. My good deed done, I left the chick on the floor and observed several robins flying on to the porch.  When I looked out a few minutes later, the chick was gone and no adult birds were anywhere to be seen. Worried that the injured chick had fallen off the floor onto the ground below, I went out to investigate. I was unable to find the chick. Soon, however, two robins came to the porch making all kinds of noise – probably trying to communicate with the chick.  Then I noticed the adult birds very cautiously  (after quite some time of just hanging out) flying to the ground where I had been searching for the chick. I watched one robin go into the brush nearby, entering with an insect in its mouth and leaving empty-beaked.  I guess they found their chick, and were continuing to nurse it back to health. Because I cannot disturb it, I will never know if that chick made it or not.  One thing is certain, the parents were in no mood to give up; they continued to cautiously land on the ground with food.  I think it is a happy ending just like story 1.

So now I have a renewed respect for robins, one of my most favorite birds.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!

 

Filed Under: Featured, Happiness, Inner Peace, Tao of Nature, Thoughts & Opinions Tagged With: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, MINDFULNESS, NATURE, ROBINS, THE TAO OF NATURE

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Effective Clinical Supervision Perhaps other than the mental health status of the therapist and her/his ethical clinical skills, there is no more important variable in successful clinical work than effective CLINICAL supervision.  I emphasize “clinical’ because in today’s bureaucratic systems, so much supervision tends to be about required procedures like utilization level, reporting requirements, and documentation for services […]

Tonglen Meditation or Giving and Taking I have added various posts about many compassion practice.  Earlier posts have covered a range of practices – from super-easy to more demanding. Here, I will add a more advanced practice.  This Tibetan compassion meditation practice has been taught often in the Vajrayana school of Buddhism.  In my opinion […]

Loving Kindness Meditation – More Thoughts Some less experienced meditators complain about how easily the mind’s wandering thoughts distract them from paying attention and deepening concentration.  This is a very common problem in meditation practice, and not always just for novices.  Here is a solution for you to try.  In Loving Kindness Meditation, you focus […]

Trauma Informed Care – Avoidance Process Although more and more clinicians are learning about and using principles/practices of Trauma Informed Care, too few understand the behavioral dynamics of negative reinforcement in the avoidance of trauma-related cues (people, places, things, internal sensations, emotions and images). This post will give a very brief description of negative reinforcement […]

Making the Best of the Holidays Thanks to Sounds True, we have many good suggestions for making the most of the holidays.  It is a norm for the holidays to be happy and joyous, and it is a norm for many people for the holidays to be filled with emotional and behavioral challenges.  To reduce […]

How to be Happier in a Relatively Unhappy World In today’s fast-paced, digitized, unstable world – with it uncertainty, childish tweets from on-high, and general dissatisfaction with things as they are – how may one become a happier person. It is clear that isolation will not work; it is clear that aggressive actions in opposition […]

Looking at Early Judeo-Chrsitian Meditation Practice An early description of enlightened liberation in Buddhist meditation practice reads like this: Birth is destroyed, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done. There is no more coming back to any state of being.  Ignorance was banished and true knowledge arose, darkness […]

Mindful Leadership Skills: How to Lead in Wise Mind Ways Researchers dealing with leadership skills have noted several acquired characteristics of effective leaders.  These same skills may be used in spreading “the word” about how mindfulness and wise mind practices reduce stress reactivity, enhance compassion, and expand the possibilities for human happiness, inner peace and […]

Expanded Information about Your Compassion Practices and Benefits Compassion Practice Tips and Exercises The Buddha noted that one should not dwell on the past, become too attached to future outcomes, but instead concentrate our mind only on the present moment of our experiences.  The Dalai Lama noted that compassion is a necessary condition for inner […]

Strategies to Cool Your Hot Emotions: Using Mind and Body First, let me note that one of the best sets of mind-body approaches to cooling down hot emotional reactions can be found in the various emotion regulation skills and practices in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (created by Marsha M. Lineman, a practicing Buddhist).  These skills may […]

“i Rest” Yoga Nidra Practice (Richard Miller, Ph.D.) All regular meditation and yoga practices are capable of bringing us closer to our true self and our relationships in the world. A by-product is deep relaxation and equanimity. Richard Miller, Ph.D. (Clinical Psychologist, yogic scholar, spiritual teacher), has created a yoga nidra practice that promises to […]

Liberation of the True Self Socrates is reported to have noted that “the secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old but on building the new.” In Buddhism there are clear relationships between “no-self” and the force of impermanence, that reality that ensures constant change and thus personal […]

The Nine Bow Ritual for Those You Respect Deeply The Nine Bow Ritual is a simple practice of deep respect.  Think of a person, living or not, for whom you have very strong positive feelings.  If you select a person no longer living, you may be surprised at the emotional impact of this ritual. If […]

The Heart Sutra – Thich Nhat Hanh “Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.” This ultimate mantra is one of the most important in Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh’s new translation of The Heart Sutra offers a great deal of enlightened, sometimes more advanced, information and process. Avalokitesvara and other great Bodhisattvas present important views of this […]

Showing Deep Love & Respect Loved Ones Lost This is a very brief post about love and respect for “lost loved ones” – those special people who have left their human body and mind behind. Two Rituals 1) Loving Kindness Meditation for Lost Loved Ones After breathing slowly and deeply for a few minutes in silence, […]

Anahata – Heart Chakra Meditation Practice Rumi noted that to reach the sky we must use our hearts. The Heart Chakra is a very popular focus of meditation practice.  Here we will simply review some characteristics and then move on to a meditation practice. Specific characteristics: Green color, YAM sound (say at least three times […]

Mindfulness Practices for Expanding Acceptance Mindfulness and contemplation can be great allies in our struggle to better understand each other.  This is especially true when it comes to matters of interpersonal relationships and highly significant relationships.  It is also important in diversity, or as some now refer to it – variation in human beings.   Variation may […]

Introducing Your Clients to Brief Meditations Psychotherapists often ask  about ways to introduce mindfulness and meditation to clients.  There are other posts on this Blog that offer basic introductory information on both content and process. Here I will simply introduce you to four brief, basic meditations for clients suffering from anxiety and/or depression, along with […]

Mindful Equanimity and Homeostasis Neuroscientist Antonio Demasio’s new book  The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Culture. (2018) New York: Pantheon Books notes the very important role homeostasis plays in human life and well being. In some ways homeostasis is about the arising, falling, and balancing out of all things important to human […]

Loss, Grief and Suffering in America By Anthony R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC Other than our nation’s suffering during The Civil War, The Great Depression, and World War II this past year has been one of the most stress-filled, fear-filled times in our history. Here is a list of the reasons behind it all: the COVID-19 […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness