Personal Strength - A Lesson from the Cardinals

To the left of my monitor is a large window with a view of a large flowering senna bush, and beyond that are a couple of live oak trees. These plants are the gathering places for lots of birds. After more than six years in the Texas Hill Country, we've identified 95 species around our property.

Right now I'm watching four or five cardinals who are seeking shelter in the flowering senna. Today we have cold, light rain. Good for the property, but a problem for the birds. I guess from a cardinal's perspective, it could suck a lot worse.

I am endlessly charmed and fascinated with the birds' activities. Like me, they are doing what they have to do to survive and thrive. I do it inside my warm, cozy home. They do it outside in the cold rain. I am keenly aware that their drama is not put on display for me. I know life is hard for them. Every day. Every hour of every day they struggle against adversity to raise their young, find food and make it through. And of course some don't. I've collected my share of dead cardinals and other birds and left them on the other side of the road, returning them to the cycle of life.

Of course, these gorgeous birds do what they have to do, and only what they have to do. There is no complaining in the bird world. No bullshit. No weakness of character. That's a human problem, not a bird problem.

So when adversity visits me in my life, as it sometimes does, I try to remember the cardinals and other animal species. They remind me that if I want to be the best person I can be, I need to be like them. I need to just do the hard things, without complaint, without displays of human weakness, one hard thing after another until I reach a sunny clearing in my life, where I can rest and find food and drink water and cry out my good feeling to those around me.

My wife's "cardinal moment."

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2010. Building Personal Strength . (Photo by Kathleen Scott, used with permission)