Higher Motivation

Birds have always held a fascination for me. Not the sparrows, robins and blue jays that land in the crepe myrtles outside my office window. I like the big, soaring, graceful birds of prey: eagle, falcon and hawk.

The houses on our side of the street back up to a power company easement, so there is a long field probably 50 yards across with two of those big metal towers that carry lines elsewhere buried throughout the neighborhood. Two weeks ago a red tail hawk started roosting high in the air atop one of them.

Of course, I had to get out binoculars to take a close-up look. Then I had to get my family outside to see. Then I had to get my neighbor over and share the excitement of ‘my hawk.’ It took about two minutes for him to one-up me with: ‘Let’s walk back here about three houses and I’ll show you something even better.’ Across the field, nearly hidden in the forest of pine trees were two hawks guarding a nest. “I got my binoculars yesterday,” he said. “There are babies in the nest.” It’s a family.

Energy comes into our lives from many places. For some it’s a morning cup of coffee. Others find it in fruit. Kids prefer Frosted Flakes. For many years running did it for me. Last summer I switched to swimming and – once I figured out how to breathe – that does the trick. However, nothing is more uplifting than the instantaneous surge I feel when I see ‘my hawk’ sitting on his 100-foot high perch or soaring gracefully over the field.

Where does energy find you?

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