I’ve been thinking about how some thoughts take residence in our brains like a nesting bird ready to bring a family of fledglings into the world, while other thoughts quickly snack on berries and fly away. This would be fine and dandy if I could decide which thoughts nest and which ones fly away! But thoughts, like birds, seem to have a mind of their own.
This line of thinking was sparked by Maggie Smith’s book Keep Moving. I devoured her book of poetry Goldenrold, which was filled with so many poems that struck a chord with me. In my quest to read more of her work I stumbled across “Keep Moving.” The format switches between inspirational quotes and bite-size essays. Smith’s essays are where I found my favorite little nuggets within the pages.
Here’s a snippet from an essay that inspired today’s illustration:
When my daughter was in preschool, she wanted to know everything about the world. At ages three and four, she used every short drive to the post office, the library, or the grocery store to ask me big questions from her car seat behind me:
“What is the earth for?
”What is the future?”
”What is the past?”
”Where was I before I was in your belly?”I could almost hear her mind whirring, whirring, unable to shut itself down. I had an old MacBook that did that until it burned my lap.
Some nights she couldn’t turn the thoughts off. I remember those difficult tuck-ins.
I told her, “Thoughts are like birds—some just fly away, but others nest. Our thoughts are nesters. They don’t want to leave us, and they make themselves right at home.”
In a previous post, I wrote about how I often feel like my thoughts are little birds flapping around inside my brain that I can’t quite catch, but I haven’t thought about the opposite thoughts that I can’t get rid of as personified birds. I usually have a more rat-like characterization for thoughts that gnaw away at my brain at night. The idea of these thoughts being little birds in a nest makes them seem much less menacing! I hope this is a helpful metaphor for you too.
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Thanks for being here! It truly means the world to me to connect with you every week. In case you missed it, last week I shared an illustrated poem called “Pressing on the Bruise” along with a downloadable art print for all subscribers. You can check out that post and snag the art print here.
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