Lessons From Sandhill Cranes

This morning as I lay in bed reading, I heard in the far-off distance, the unmistakable enchanting sounds of Sandhill Cranes in flight.

I turned over to look out the window at the head of my bed and kept my gaze steady on the sky. I heard them getting closer, but since I didn't know from which direction they were flying, I didn't know where they'd appear.

Instead of getting out of bed to look from my two other bedroom windows, and thereby risk seeing them at all, I remained where I was. I heard them getting closer and louder still! And after a few minutes of waiting and listening and looking, I didn't see them at all, but instead heard them growing further away.

As I continued to focus my attention out through the window, listening to the Sandhill Cranes becoming ever faint, I smiled.

I smiled because I had heard them.

I also smiled because it dawned on me that it was enough for me just to hear them. I didn't need to see them in order for my joy to be complete. My joy was complete because I wasn't attached to the outcome that i HAD to see them.

This morning, I heard the beautiful Sandhill Cranes as they flew over my wooded sanctuary. Simply hearing them was joy enough for me :)

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If you've never heard the beautiful Sandhill Cranes, here is video/audio I shot on March 21, 2011: