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Site Home –› Health & Therapy –› Women's Health

Who Gives A Hoot! Article 1 Of A 10-Part Series

Over the next 10 articles, you will learn:

1. How You are like the Wise Old Owl in Seven, Inscrutable Ways
2. The Ways of Wisdom: Learning to Learn and Leaving a Legacy
3. The Timing and Power of Now: Making the Invisible Visible
4. Gift Giving by Telling: Your Expertise and Wisdom
5. Casting off and Setting Sail'Taking off the Mask---Moving Ahead'Making a Difference--Serving
6. Standing in your Power'Guardian Angels and Inner Wisdom
7. Challenges'Removing Blocks and Inhibitions
8. Mentors and Resources to Guide You in Your Journey of Life and Living
9. Focused Action and Taking Hold of the Reins in Your Own Way
10. Long-term Potential and Goals Worth Pursuing in this Experience of Living with Purpose

Let the Journey Begin!

Again, Who gives a hoot? It's the wise old owl! The obvious reason is a rather tongue-in-cheek one: The owl asks us a question. It asks us, Who? Who are you? Who do you want to become? I say that makes him quite wise. Consider his competitors: The parrot? He only repeats. The hyena? He only laughs. But the owl? He asks. That's a quality of wisdom. It is not the answers a man has that makes him wise. It's the questions he asks. Confucius

But, let us look more closely by way of comparison--not between the owl and his competitors, but between the owl and ourselves. I think you'll like what we find. Come and let us take flight together for a bird's eye view of wisdom as we consider the seven most distinctive characteristics and adaptations of survival between the owl and ourselves!

First, let us consider their keen eyesight. The owl has the best night vision of any creature on earth. Their eyes are in the front of their heads, giving them good depth perception, in fact, so much so that they can snatch prey while in flight. Not unlike the owl, we all have learned to adapt to whatever environment we find ourselves in. We do this by looking beneath the surface of things. Seeing things as they really are and not as they might appear to be. We have developed this keen ability to see not just with our physical eyes but from a larger, grander perspective. We spiritually refer to this as VISION. It is this ability of vision, to truly see, that allows us to adapt to the extreme circumstances and events of our lives. It is our vision that carries us through the imperfections of our lives.

Some men see the world as it is and ask why; other see the world as it might be and ask why not. George Bernard Shaw.

The owl has a keen sense of hearing. It has a disk-like pattern of feathers on its face, which funnels sound to its ears. By illustration, an owl can hear the snap of a twig over 82 feet away! This keen sense of hearing allows the owl to hunt for prey in virtually total darkness. Comparably, the human ear can respond to minute variations of air pressure when in the audible range. The ear is capable of responding to the greatest range of stimuli than any of our other senses! This, however, is not the most significant characteristic. We are able to discern and differentiate sound. We call it selective hearing. We have the ability to listen with our hearts and minds as well as our ears. We can turn this ability to hear into perception and understanding.

Speak softly, for those who can not hear an angry shout, may strain to hear a whisper. -Will Odon 'The Host'

Owls are nocturnal. The owl has the honorary title of Lord of the Night, deservingly so because of this distinction of its ability to hunt after dark when its prey is active. Ah! The dreams that come in the night! That which weighs on our hearts and minds in the brightness of the noon-day sun oftentimes is clarified through symbolic messages of the night. We know the old adage, Why don't you just sleep on it! The morning often dawns with new understanding and direction. The night! The stars and moon, the planets and the universe'They all speak to us. We have birth charts, numerology, astrology, tarot and other forms of divination. We have the mystery and wonder of holy writ in many forms, preserved treasures of hidden knowledge for those who seek to enter its portals.

The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind. Sigmund Freud

The owl is further adapted to survival by its ability to move its head 270 degrees. This adaptation allows it to stay virtually still, and yet be able to rotate its head to see in virtually all directions. Oh, that we could be more like the owl in this regard! Yes, it's true, I wonder, if mothers do have eyes in the back of their heads. And speculate in agreement that there is the 'third eye' that we may open on the road to enlightenment. That the eye is the window to the soul, I believe whole-heartedly. It's the being still part that we have a problem with. And yet, it is in our stillness that we best see, best hear, best learn, best know. We are instructed by wise ones to pray, to meditate, to 'Be still and know that I am God.' Yet, this is perhaps our most unpracticed and yet-to-be-accomplished potential. Self-discipline here is required.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson

Owls are predators. The owl is nearly silent in flight. It can swoop down upon its prey because the design of its wingtips is such that the sound of its very flight is muffled. The owl has a stealth-like quality in flight. We can be silent, too! Or we can roar. We have the ability to discern when to do each. We sit quietly in class, in church, when an authority figure is speaking or out of respect. We know when we need to take a stand and speak up. When to whisper, 'I love you.' and when to shout, 'Call 911!' We know, but we need to practice to be stealth-like and accurate and win/win in our communications. The art of a lifetime. In the meantime, friends and loved ones filter through our words and accusations'our temper-tantrums, our immaturities and our voiced confusions, finding our true intentions and love us still. Within each of us is recognition of truth and we are on the path to reconciling ourselves to it. We will all be stealth-like someday.

It's not: 'What can life bring to me'? It's: 'Who am I? And how can I bring it to life'? Debra Lindegren

Owls have talons. The owl's talons are strong and powerful, designed in such a way that they can enclose and pierce its prey to ensure it does not get away. Now this is where we truly excel. We will grab hold of something and never let it go! The message of our times seems to be 'Let it go! Let it go!' Still, we hold on to whatever it may be. We pierce it, obsess over it, cling to it, get stuck in it'with the viciousness of a dog on a bone! But I believe it is because we are learning from it. We can't let go until we've learned everything we can from whatever 'it' is. We've needed the experience and we will ruthlessly devour it until every thread of meaning has been unloosed from it. Then, and only then, can we let go because it will then no longer serve us.

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. Hellen Keller

This brings us to a very interesting characteristic of owls. They regurgitate pellets. Because the owl does not have teeth, it swallows its prey whole. What cannot be digested, after about 12 hours, is regurgitated in what is known as a pellet. Owl pellets are densely packed and lightweight when dry. The study and dissection of owl pellets as compared to those of other birds, produces the most information for scientists to analyze. As mentioned above, we hold onto things, usually much longer than 12 hours. But eventually we, too, like the owl, regurgitate our 'pellets'. When we have consumed full meaning from our experiences, then, and only then, can the remainder be discarded without looking back. Ultimately, we are great pellet-makers! It's the getting-stuck part that we often find ourselves in, knowing it's time to let go, but hoarding and clinging instead. This, too, though is instructional and we will eventually move on. It is our wisdom that insists that we do so.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. John Wooden

This brings our comparison of ourselves with owls to a close. Owls are perfectly adapted for survival. So are we. We can all be like the wise old owl. Emerson said, 'Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.' And so, the answer to the question is the question in this case. Who gives a hoot? Whoo gives a hoot!

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Come back again for the second article of the series: The Ways of Wisdom: Learning how to Learn and Leaving a Legacy

Author: Saijin Kurash

Author Bio:

Visit Saijin at www.tellingtouch.com She is the author of Saijin's Journey Begins, the first book in a series for pre-teens. TellingTouch, Saijin's website, offers a program of leaving your legacy through your Telling--your words of wisdom, your journey through life--for those you love.