If you put a buzzard in a cage six or eight feet square, entirely open at the top, the bird in spite of its wondrous ability to fly and soar effortlessly will be an absolute prisoner for its whole life.
The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10-12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly but will remain a prisoner for life in a small cage, even though the top is open to the skies...
What does this example from nature tell us?
We are all prisoners of our own habits... once we do or learn to do a thing a certain way, we insist upon doing it the same way repeatedly even if we know we are headed in the wrong direction. The bird knew how to take off and land and yet it lay trapped because:
♦ It was not prepared to change the patterns of behaviour that it had ingrained within it.
♦ It was not conditioned to try a new technique or a new path out.
♦ It was unable to see the alternatives available and did not have the intelligence to try.
♦ It gave up too easily, not ready to see the sky above, only the bars of the cage below.
Dear friends, we are not bird-brained... or are we??
Do we give up easily and say we cannot do something? Do we say ‘everyone my age behaves that way’? Do we keep repeating habits which we know are harmful for our well-being because we are not prepared to look at things differently?
We know that certain habits are harmful and yet we persist with them. What are these habits that hold us back... make a list and look at them. For example, Habit: I spend too much time on surfing/ Facebook / video games/ phone calls.
Outcome: I have no time for exercise or studies, I am distracted from my goal...
Solution: Let me look at it differently — not like the buzzard — and use the time spent on the computer at least on week days to read up for my project work. Let me make an effort to meet my friends rather than depend on the phone to communicate. Let me look at the goal above — (the blue sky) my health, well-being and focus on education rather than repeat the habit (binding cage) that forces me to waste precious time.
A wise person knows that practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Practice gives rise to a habit, only perfect practice gives rise to a good habit .We have to perfect the practice of looking at things in a new way. We have to convince ourselves that we can let go of our set patterns of behaviour and resolve to find more positive and effective patterns.
We must be like the seasons of the year, ever changing, ever adapting, ever growing, and ever challenging. Nature is in constant change, the old gives way to the new. Today let us resolve to behave like intelligent rational educated youth, not like the buzzard.