Day 83 - Bird Banding

Thought of the day: Being able to unconditionally forgive is an admirable virtue, and it's such an incredibly difficult virtue to attain.  Often times there is a history behind a grudge you carry, a face attached to it, and a vivid memory of disappointment, betrayal, anger, or even pain associated with it.  How can you forgive when you believe that you have been wronged?  How can you forgive when the perpetrator does not show any signs of remorse?  How can you forgive when you know that your forgiveness may very well be unwanted or unappreciated?  But forgive you must.  Carrying a grudge is more harmful to yourself than to the person you carry the grudge against.  Forgive in you mind, and where used to be shadow can now be filled with positive energy.  Forgive in your heart, and where used to be bitterness can now be filled with joy.  Forgive, forgive truly in your heart, and that will set you free.  All these are of course easier to say than do.  The first thing I will do is to face the grudge squarely, visualize it, verbalize it, understand it.  Then I will try out different techniques: role reversal, meditation and even reprogramming the brain (something I just learned from a friend today).  And I will start with something small, something easier to forgive, and build up my confidence from there.  One day, when my heart is cleared of grudges, I shall celebrate.

Photo of the day:

Dr. Oak Thorne, the founder of Thorne Ecological Institute, was holding a bird he just banded with one hand and writing notes in his banding journal with the other.  Dr. Thorne devoted himself selflessly to the ecological and environmental education of kids, including kids of fewer opportunities, for over 50 years.  The bird was "jailed" temporarily before it was released back in the air.  Watching the struggling bird made me want to ask for the forgiveness of a number of birds I mistreated when I was little.  They didn't fare nearly as well as the birds trapped by Dr. Thorne.