It’s that time of the year, the Ross Geese and Sandhill Cranes are flying north again. We always go back to the wetlands and check, make sure they are really gone.
We were a little late today, dusk light already painting the landscape into a silhouette. I was feeling disappointed that no birds are left; they must be gone on their trip north already. Suddenly I heard that familiar sound of Sandhill Cranes! They flew over me in their formation in the sky, singing across the sky and wetlands so freely and soulful.
Mama once said, “These birds always travel this long journey every year, aren’t they tired?” For us human, moving is quite a daunting project. It takes a long time to prepare, mentally, physically and a long time to recover afterwards.
The birds don’t have anything to carry, mentally or physically, so they can move light and free, spontaneously.
Carry less, so we can move more freely at will. We carry not just physical things, but more things on our minds. We put on too much weight on our mind, wrap up ourselves in things, past and future. Birds are free, so they can leave at any moment. Sure they have lost some on their way in, and there will be some danger on their way out, but they will just go fearlessly, like nothing happened before or after. Maybe that’s the true detachment: detach from pain in the past, and concern in the future, just go with the flow, proudly and confidently.
Detachment is not that we own nothing, but nothing owns us, that includes mental image we created for ourselves, the anxiety we lock in our mind and the possible consequences we pre-live constantly. We should live first-hand, as this moment is: life is always a live show.
Now with that aspiration, the churning soulful calling of Sandhill Cranes starts to carry a message to me: Travel light, Go far!