The Eagle And The Chicken

7/13/2024

Who am I is a profound question explored by spiritual seekers and mystics. Am I my body, Am I my mind, or I am beyond my body and mind? We usually identify ourselves with body and mind. My true self, my authentic self, my essence is beyond body and mind. Sadly, as we grow up, our personality is shaped by what the people close to us define our real and authentic selves by our looks, by our worldly possesions, our professions, prestige and power. Sadly we lose our authentic self, our true identity.
The story of the eagle and the chicken narrated by Jamie Glenn is quite revealing: How the mighty and free eagle turns into a chicken, the eagle looking like a chicken and quacking like a chicken and becoming a chicken. Sadly a majority of people in different societies and cultures tend to define their members by the external appearances, ranks, money and power. No wonder, why such societies and cultures create materialistic, power and prestige hungry leaders. I was blessed to have parents in my life who lived authentically and provided good modeling. They played a significant role in shaping my authentic personality. Forming eagle-like authentic self is not easy for us as we have to depend on and rely upon significant people in our childhood. It requires courage and determination to sing my song and dance my dance, to be an eagle and not a chicken.
Namaste!

1 Comment

Therese M Griffin link

7/20/2024 01:52:40 pm

A fable was told that a misidentified chicken was born an eagle and had the heart of an eagle. The misidentified chicken did not know she was on a journey to feel who is was as a creation of the universe. Each of us are the product of the family, neighborhood, rural area, workplace, school, and other surroundings. It like the old story “If you walk like a duck, waddle like a duck, and quake like a duck – you’re a duck.” Not always; not in my life.

I would tell others I had a speech impediment that is why I mispronounce words frequently. As a child “r’s” were impossible. Even today, I think of the upcoming sentence as I continue to speak. If an impossible word pops up – I must think quickly of an easier word that means the same thing. Later in my aging adulthood, I was diagnosed with Vision Tracking, a form of the Dyslexia circle. As I read, I would miss or jump over a couple of words. Example: I am going to the store. I might have stood up in 5th grade reading it as “I am STORE.” My friends would giggle not in a mean way. It was a happy sound from my classmates. I thought, wow I must have done good. Then the teacher said, “Therese sit down now and stop being a ‘Class Clown’” Why was I a class-clown? No one understood Dyslexia or Vision Tacking in the 1950s.

As the misidentified chicken continued her journey to embrace, she became a souring eagle with a good heart. As I continued my journey from the days of believing ‘I am nothing but a dummy’ to embrace I am woman, I am smart, I am loveable.

Once a mentor told me, “You are the Beloved Daughter of our Creator.” That was such a foreign thought. How could that be? Today, I see was always smart with few of my accomplishments: MA in Creation Theology, BA of Arts, AZ Licensed Addiction Counselor, abundance of healthy friends, and desire to keep learning who am I?

Mindfulness

The Eagle And The Chicken

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