In an earlier post I explained how Paddy, our parrot, couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of getting to where he actually wanted to be by simply following his beak.
Well Paddy has had a break through. Now, when we go to work, leaving him in his open cage in the laundry, we will come home to find Paddy in the drawer of his filing cabinet in the lounge room. It’s finally dawned on him that there is absolutely nothing standing between him and his beloved filing cabinet except his own willingness to spread his little wings and fly.
He even extended his new found freedom a few days ago by flying into the bathroom so that he could peep out the window and watch Dad working in his vegetable garden.
However, despite his minor triumph, Paddy still has much to learn. For example he still doesn’t understand that, if he’s hungry or thirsty, he can just as easily fly back to his cage in the laundry. If I am in the kitchen cooking, he will sit in the lounge room and squawk because he wants to come and see what I’m doing, and if it involves anything edible for birdies.
He will even climb down onto the floor and walk across to the sofa. He will climb up on the back of the chair and sit there and squawk at me. Yet the silly boy only needs to walk about another metre and he would be right there in the kitchen with me!!
Life is all about learning for us too. We never get to a point when we know it all – when we have complete understanding of the way it all works and exactly what can be accomplished if we just take those extra few steps.
It’s much too easy to be imprisoned by the limitations of our own imagination. To think, ‘This is it. This is as far as I can go!’
Now if Paddy set his sights on flying off to Brisbane for the day (about 28 kilometres away), then obviously he wouldn’t make it. Unlike a wild bird, Paddy could only ever fly short distances, from one room to another or a couple of laps around the inside of the house. But, if he doesn’t give up, he will soon figure out how to cross the chasm between the back of the sofa and the kitchen.
And ridiculous aspirations aside, if we just keep pushing the boundaries of our world, who knows what new things we might learn and achieve?
©Lyn Murphy 2011
2 comments:
we do get limited by the limitations of our own mind. so often. thanks for the great post! :) and thanks for linking up to the blog party! nice to meet you!
I think you guys would be perfect at looking after Mack after raising Paddy. Sounds like alot of the same behaviours!!
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