Reboot My Life – A Hummingbird With a Message

Tenth in a series of blogs written by Josslyn Streett of Rain Shadow Reiki for her series on nutritional healing and juicing.

To catch up start with blog 1, A Sensitive System or search categories under Nutritional Healing.

Heavenly Grass

“My feet took a walk in heavenly grass.
All day while the sky shone clear as glass.
My feet took a walk in heavenly grass,
All night while the lonesome stars rolled past.
Then my feet come down to walk on earth,
And my mother cried when she give me birth.
Now my feet walk far and my feet walk fast,
But they still got an itch for heavenly grass.
But they still got an itch for heavenly grass.”

Tennessee Williams

One Journey Ends, Another Continues

Two days after I finished my ten-day fruit and vegetable cleanse for better health and cleansing my system, I was standing on the grass, drinking my lemon water in my back yard.  This has been my morning ritual since I started the cleanse.  As I felt the earth beneath my feet, grounding myself to the energy Mother Earth generously offered, I was contemplating the journey of the cleansing process and how I was feeling.  I started the cleanse to try something new to heal myself.  I have suffered from multiple chronic illnesses much of my life and am consistently searching for the puzzle pieces to healing my physical body, while at the same time living my life, working being a wife and mom.  To read the goals of my cleanse go to my second blog.

Back to the Grass

I was contemplating the journey of the cleansing process and how I was feeling afterwards.  I was a bit down because I still felt tired, I still felt unmotivated and I had some high hopes that I’d be feeling better after the cleanse.  Many people have told me that after day three, you feel great.  Not the case for me.  This has been a long healing trek for me so I knew it would take more than just a ten-day cleanse to help me heal completely, but I had hoped that I’d feel a little better when it was done. I was also aware that I was feeling the low of just finishing a big project and wondering where to go next, what was the next step? (details of the cleanse results at the bottom of the blog)

“The best way out of a problem is through it.” Author Unknown

Motivation

In the movie, “Fat,Sick and Nearly Dead” one of the women who did the ten-day cleanse, because she was having migraines regularly, said after her cleanse “I have the energy of a 21-year-old!”  I have to admit, THAT statement stuck with me.  WOW, I want the energy of a 21-year-old I thought.  I knew my health issues were more complicated than hers but this statement motivated me and still does, to keep going.  But, unlike her, I didn’t feel like a 21-year-old.  I felt tired, still.  A common problem with chronic fatigue and depression.  I knew the only choice was to keep going.  I knew I was on the right track, I just needed to keep moving forward with the juicing and eating as many fruits and vegetables as possible.  But, after years of doing this, it gets a bit daunting.  I was having a hard time staying motivated.  Cue my animal message.

“By perseverance the snail reached the Ark.“  C.H. Spurgeon

Cue the Hummingbird, Stage Left

As I stood there in the middle of my yard contemplating this, a hummingbird flew right up to my face and hovered there for what seems like a very long minute or longer.  It just didn’t leave, or move from its hover spot in front of my face.  I noticed it was an unremarkable hummingbird, all gray, no spectacular color from what I could see.  It just stayed there.  So, I stayed still, I watched it, looked at it, trying to figure out what it wanted of me.  Birds rarely come that close to me.  I have to admit, I like birds,  but do not consider myself a bird person.

Childhood Flashback

My sister had birds growing up and I would take care of them for her when she was gone.  I never quite believed they were happy being in that cage and thought they must be very bored.  Birds needed to fly and be free, I felt.  I was also afraid of them close up, because they would peck me and make sudden movements and I never knew quite what to expect from them.  I never fully understood them or appreciated them close up.  I’m just not a bird person I guess.  (Maybe my babysitter allowing me to watch Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” at a young age didn’t help either.  Hmmm, have to meditate on that for a bit later.)  Lets put it this way, if I were to get a tattoo, it would NOT be of a bird.  But, if I were to get a tattoo and it had to be a bird, it would probably be a pretty colored one, like a hummingbird.  Anyway….

Back to the Hummingbird

So when this hummingbird came so close to my face, and stayed there for what seemed like a very long time, not only was I a bit surprised and still a bit afraid that it would peck my face, but I knew that this bird must be trying to tell me something or it wouldn’t be doing this with me.  I finally just enjoyed the moment and listened.  As I listened I heard “Patience, the journey continues!” Well I have to say that just pissed me off!!  Patience!!  I’ve been on this healing journey for twenty years almost, how patient do I have to be!?  (Apparently, more patient than I am at the moment.)

Visions Help Solidify the Message

Then suddenly, standing there on the grass, I had visions of all the lifetimes I’ve done this, many lifetimes of physical and emotional pain that I am working to rid myself of all in this one life.  It is time, THIS is the life to taste, digest, and dispose of all the pain from all those other lives.  This healing journey that I think I’ve been on for twenty years, I’ve actually been on for much, much longer.  In that scope of understanding, a few more years or even a few more lifetimes didn’t seem like so much.  Patience on that scale, actually seemed more doable than just this one lifetime of being patient.  The big picture to me made my struggles in this life seem small and easier to overcome, more like a speed-bump than a mountain.  I can’t completely explain it, but I felt more at peace, I felt like I could go on.  I felt like I could continue the healing journey with more patience.  Thank you beautiful hummingbird, it was just the message and vision I needed at that exact moment.

“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”  An Old Astronomer to His Pupil

Suddenly the gray hummingbird turned away from me and flew away.  He knew I’d gotten his message and he was done.  I ran in the house and wrote down the message and my experience so I could write it in this blog later.  I then picked up my “Animal Spirit Guides” book by Steven Farmer and looked up messages from hummingbirds to see what it had to say that may compliment the message I had gotten.  Here is what the book said for hummingbird that related to my situation, like it was written just for me, just for that day.

If a hummingbird shows up, it means:

• You need to be very flexible with the twists and turns your life will take in the next days.
• Put more emotional sweetness in your life, you need it.
• You’re going through some very heart-opening kinds of experiences, and you’ll quite naturally draw more and more love into your life.
• Openly express the love you have and feel for those important people in your life.
• Give yourself the gift of as many flowers as you can, spread them around your home, and enjoy their sight and fragrance throughout the days to come.

This message also stood out and spoke to me from the book:

Call on Hummingbird when:

• You’re feeling down and sullen and want to lighten up, have more fun, and experience more joy.
• You find yourself around any negativity or harshness and want to protect yourself and lift your spirits.
• You’re feeling fragmented and distracted, ruminating about the past or future, and want to be more present in the moment.

Judy at Angels and Ancestors wrote a lovely blog about the spiritual messages of hummingbirds.  Here is a passage that spoke to me:

“Hummingbird is about understanding the sweetness of life, about being able to go long distances on little food, and using great courage.  Hummingbird also represents the pioneer spirit of finding new lands and moving between worlds.  When working with Hummingbird, we may ask it to bring in our Ancestors or the Old Ones who may come from their spirit place and share knowledge with us.

Hummingbirds bring the message that stamina and perseverance is important in one’s life.  One must build themselves up to be strong so that their life force is not depleted by those drawing on them for energy.  Another message that hummingbird brings to those that it appears to, is that the human must watch his or her digestive system, and that they must not take in too much sugar.”

Hummingbird Totem for the full blog by Tonjha about the spiritual messages of hummingbirds.  Here is a quote that related to the cleanse experience for me.

“The hummingbird can awaken us to the medicinal properties of plants. Hummingbirds teach us how to draw the life essence from flowers. “They can teach us how to use flowers to heal and win hearts in love.  Andrews says the twittering, vibrating sounds of the hummingbirds bring us an internal massage that restores health and balance. ”

North West Tribal Art Symbols – Hummingbird, another great blog about Power Animals.  This one, the hummingbird.

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”  Author Unknown