Heroes Not Zombies

This photo of this wee guy on the stone all alone in the middle of the pond caught my attention again today.

Look at him. Look at his posture. He’s stretching his neck to raise his head as high as he can make it go.

That got me thinking about the stories of boredom, tiredness, and loneliness which seem to be everywhere just now.

It’s true, we are experiencing unprecedented amounts of physical separation these days. I know it’s referred to as “social isolation” or “social distancing” but I think there’s a fair body of experience now to demonstrate that social contacts have increased, not decreased. They’ve just moved into the non-physical dimension. Phone calls, text messages, WhatsApp and other messenger services, FaceTime, Zoom, and other video calling technologies are all surging. Goodness, if only they’d open the post offices, stationers and newsagents maybe we’d start writing and sending letters and postcards again!

So, like a growing number of people, I prefer the phrase “physical distancing” to “social distancing”.

Whatever we call it, many of us are perched on our own rocks in the middle of the world pond. Just like the wee guy in the photo.

But look what he is doing.

He’s got his head lifted as high as it can go. He’s trying to touch the sun with his nose. Trying to catch whiffs of delight in the air. I cut the grass in the garden again a couple of days ago and I was immediately blessed with that gorgeous scent of cut grass. Delightful.

What happens when we lift our heads and look up?

We see…..

…birds?

Look at this one hovering in mid-flight. I see a lot of buzzards here in the Charente. (This photo was taken in Kyoto years ago by the way). I can look up and watch them circling way, way up in the atmosphere, their high pitched calls resonating across multiple vineyards. I love to see them soar, dive, and glide through the air. I see kestrels here quite a lot too. They hover in, what has become to me now, a very familiar distinctive way. Takes my breath away every time.

Or maybe we see the leaves in the trees (depends which season your part of the world is in now) – here’s one of dozens of photos I have of acer leaves (again, taken in Kyoto, years ago)

I think they are stunningly beautiful. I adore the shapes of these leaves. They look like stars. A galaxy of stars against a blue, blue sky.

Or maybe you can see the clouds and notice the rain falling in a thin curtain draped from the sky to the earth.

There’s something else about this lifting the head…..its the opposite of “hang dog”. It’s the opposite of closing down. It’s an opening up.

Try it.

Drop your chin to your chest, gaze down at your body and the ground below you. How does that feel?

Now lift your head up, stretch your neck back and open your eyes wide to what is above you. How does that feel?

The thing is, we actually need both. There are times we need to centre ourselves, withdraw and experience the solitude. And there are times we need to lift up our heads and open up to the world we are living in.