You are black, sometimes with a hint of white. Slim, slender and often with spread wings. The cormorant is powerful and at the same time vulnerable. That is the beauty of this animal and the lesson we can learn from it. To be in your strength and to dare to be vulnerable at the same time. After all, we are all human beings. We just live far too much for the outside world. Only when it becomes emotionally too much for us. Than we dare to show our vulnerability for just a tiny bit.
Cormorants don’t float on the water, like ducks, geese and swans. They could theoretically do that, but they choose not to. The cormorant is a diver. Fish is its target and fish rarely swim near the surface. To be able to follow its prey underwater, this special bird shouldn’t have too much buoyancy, otherwise the upward force pushes it to the surface too quickly during its hunt. That is something the cormorant can do without. They deliberately let their feathers get ‘wet’ in order to retain as little air as possible. That’s why they maintain their feathers, but don’t make them as greasy as other water birds.
Introspection
We can learn from the cormorant that we have to create the right mix of care for ourselves, in order to continue on our way. Introspection is necessary. That means that you have to think about yourself. That you reflect on what is important to you. What you need. And perhaps the most important thing: responding to it! Sometimes you suddenly feel like doing something or not doing something. Feel that your humanity needs rest, or entertainment. That you have an appetite for certain foods or herbs. That you want to swim or finally want to read that book. This feeling or need is there just like that. Out of nowhere. Often our minds want to put it aside. “Yeah, later maybe, or next week. Now, I MUST…” (followed by a list of things).
Dear cherished one, do you really HAVE TO? Or do you let others decide what your schedule is? Because then having to is an obligation indeed. What if you have to delete it from your dictionary for a while and it turns into NEED? It is an essential difference between ‘I must today’ (imposed by others) and ‘I need today’. What do you need to stay in balance? To be able to dive to the one fish that makes you feel satisfied, allowing you to dry your feather suit with spread wings after the experience(s) you have had.
Tricky
Because we grew up in a world that imposes all kinds of things on us, the things we really want are increasingly relegated to the background. So much has to be done, that need finally into must or have to. If you feel that you need the sauna, but only have time for it in 3 weeks, then you MUST go to the sauna in 3 weeks. If you have children and/or animals, then you naturally have the will to take care of them. However, willing to take care feels like having to take care more often.
Dear cherished one, this is not a good way to go about. Look for a state of consciousness, where you have the peace and quiet and develop the space to need again. To derive pleasure from those needs. Your intuition is a very good guide in this. If you listen better to your higher SELF, you will take better care of yourself. It allows you to get more in balance and wanting to care for others, out of a position of desire. More out of love and patience. You also see more clearly that MUST actually is a lot of nonsense. Ask yourself if the world will end if you don’t do this or that right away. Once you have made agreements/promises, it is important to keep them. Or to show your vulnerability and honestly say why you don’t want to keep them.
Create more freedom
Often, we restrict ourselves. Do we hold on to what we really want to get rid of. By just going on and on. Bite the bullet and buckle up. Just planning and running. That is quite easy, because you don’t have to feel and don’t have to dwell on everything that might want to come to the surface. That is a pity dear cherished one, because what comes from your deepest SELF is the guideline for real life. Living out of passion, feeling and gratitude.
That does not mean that everything is smooth sailing. It is about believing in yourSELF and acting accordingly. The cormorant has trained itself to be its best SELF. If it prepares its dive, it knows it has a good chance of succeeding. However, the fish has taken its own precautions to outwit the cormorant as well. It probably does not swim alone, but in a shoal, and it doesn’t swim in the open just to be caught like that. It ensures it has an escape plan or a place to dive away. If the cormorant dives, its chance of catching its target, the fish, is good, but it also depends on other factors.
This applies to humans too. Whoever lives from his heart and wants to continue his mission, will face obstacles and challenges. These are never there for nothing. They want to teach you something. If the cormorant would give up after every failed dive, it would not be around for much longer. But because it never gives up because of its BEing, it refines its skills, becomes more creative and smarter, in order to catch what it needs.
You too, dear cherished one, can ‘catch’ what you need. As long as you dare to develop yourself. Obstacles are lessons to move forward, to escape from the circle in which you keep spinning, to open your heart and go full for prosperity and abundance in all areas of your life. Then you create the freedom to which you are entitled as a human being. You only have to trust your SELF and what the universe whispers to you in your ear.
Vulnerability as power
We have been taught not to show our vulnerability. Little boys are taught not to cry. Why shouldn’t they? At this stage of life, you learn as a child that it is ok to feel and to show it. So many emotions remain unspoken between lovers, in families and other relationships. Often when someone becomes incurably ill, you see that all the peelings can suddenly fall away and it is possible to speak openly and honesty about what is going on within ourselves, with the ill beings as well. Clean appearance (who remembers the British TV series with Mrs. Bouquet) is a trap that is taught to us in our childhood.
You show the outside world that everything is peaches and cream. But in reality, everyone knows that that can never be true. If it is not true for you, then it is not true for others. Showing your vulnerability to your loved ones is scary. But that doesn’t have to be the case if you know yourSELF well. Look at the cormorant sitting on top of (lantern) poles with its wings spread wide open. It cannot be any more vulnerable than that.
If you dare to discover and accept the naked truth about your BEing, it also includes your vulnerabilities. If you know them and embrace them, it will make you more powerful. So powerful that you also dare to show your vulnerability to others. You don’t have to show the world your full hand, but you know that there are situations where openness and honesty are important right now.
Being vulnerable has nothing to do with being a victim. You give the other person a glimpse into your deepest BEing. You spread your wings and show who you are and what feelings you have towards the other person. Not reproachful, not judgmental, not reasoned from the other person, but entirely from you. After all, you can only speak for yourself. If you see vulnerability as a means of strength, even the frozen ice flower thaws. We’re all human. In the new world there is no room for keeping up appearances. If you make a start right now on loosening the strings that keep your wings tightly to your body, it means you’ve already made a head start! Good luck…
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