by Nadia Ramoutar  MMM Communications Coordinator      Ireland                 05.04.2024

I was talking to a friend who lives in New Zealand.  He told me how things are cooling off after a very hot summer and the leaves are turning brown, rust and gold.  It was interesting to listen to him as the opposite is true here in the Ireland at the moment.  Yesterday was the first day that Spring actually felt like it was with us even though it is April.  How strange that our reality in this hemi-sphere is opposite to what he is experiencing there literally on the other side of the world.  It is ethno-centric of me to think it is Spring everywhere when it is not.

Another friend of mine is traveling at the moment and sending me messages from India.  He is 4 hours and 30 minutes ahead of me.  I could not believe that India had a time difference that included 30 minutes and not just hours!  Again, my sense of time and space comes into question.  I was very thrown off my the half hour increment a decision that was made in 1947 after it became an independent country.

I share this with you because there are a lot of things we treasure like time and weather which are in fact almost an illusion – nothing is actually as it seems.  Without meaning to we are often attached to what we consider to be reality when in fact it is not in any way permanent or fixed.  Is it possible that we attach ourselves to facts, ideas, thoughts or attitudes that actually hold us back or limit?

One of my hobbies that helps me to cope with stress and gives me the pleasant experience of being outdoors is gardening.  I moved into a house that is terraced so my back garden has walls on all sides.  I look out to the garden while I work from my desk and I wanted to invite more wild birds to be part of my plan.  I got a bird feeder but I didn’t have many plants in the garden yet.  The birds didn’t come.  I could hear them around but none visited.  I realised if I wanted them to come, I needed to create a “habitat” so the birds could flit onto the feeder and feel safe.  As soon as I did this, they came.

Birds are wise enough to know not to take food if they cannot protect themselves and based on the number of cats roaming the neighbourhood, I think it is wise.  By adding some plants and shrubs and creating a habitat, I changed the nature of my back garden.  I could have given up, but I didn’t.  I ask you what parts of your “reality” do you need to question?  How could you challenge yourself to have faith to see things in a new way?  Perhaps to create safe places for other living beings?  I believe that human kind can do better.