🔊The Bird, the Pilot, and What I Learnt About Choosing a GPS (Audio Post)
A story on how a bird and pilot showed me how to plan my life route by choosing a GPS that was right for me.
I recently read about a European Honey Buzzard - a bird who was fitted with a satellite tracking system in Finland.
This bird was intriguing, because it spent an austral summer (the period from December to February) around the town of Reitz in South Africa. It left Reitz to start heading back north in spring of that year, and finally reached Finland after 42 days.
The image below shows the data received from the tracker, indicating the route taken by the bird. It covered over 10,000 km at an average of more than 230 km every single day. Astonishing!
The bird followed a straight line flying north, except when flying over bodies of water. It turned right at the source of the Nile to fly over Turkiye instead of flying over the Mediterranean Sea.
Surprisingly, it returned to the same longitudinal line it had started on afterwards, until it reached Finland.
Researchers were amazed at the bird’s precise route - traversed without GPS or any guidance.
Curious me, who has two huge macaws (large parrot species) as pets back home in Suriname, has never doubted the intelligence of birds. They possess incredible wit, intelligence, and precision. They have spotted storms and vultures much before I could see or hear them myself.
Consequently, I always end up giggling when my husband, a trained pilot and flying aficionado, says in a serious tone “I would love to teach your birds how to fly. Ideally, I’d attach a GPS to them to direct their route in case they need instructions”.
I usually respond with “But of course you do, honey. Mind you, they will probably outsmart you with their intelligence. Aeroplanes were not invented out of thin air, remember?”
The first thing I did when coming across this post in a Facebook group was eagerly show it to my husband.
“See, I told you they didn’t need any guidance for planning their route! Here’s proof”, I squealed with excitement.
“Yes, I see it now. You were right” he laughed.
“How about you show me how you’d plan this route on the GPS you use in the cockpit, captain?” I winked.
He was even more excited at the prospect and had the route planned in a second. That image is captured below.
The aeroplane, as opposed to the bird, would fly a straight line in this case. The flight plan would include taking the shortest route to save fuel and ensure danger zones (like areas ridden with war and no-fly zones) are avoided. Enough fuel would be carried for the whole trip, he explained.
Ah, yes.
The bird took longer as a living, breathing being in need of rest, water, and food. This is why it diverted as opposed to flying a straight line over sea. It planned its route by recognising how much energy, effort, and refuelling it would need, I concluded.
Smart birdies. I admire them even more now, I thought.
And later that day, it dawned on me what else I’d learnt through the bird and pilot’s route planning example: there is no one-size-fits-all GPS route planner. What was right for the plane wasn’t right for the bird, and vice versa.
This is also true when it comes to planning our life route and acting on the advice we receive.
Our inner GPS, which I like to call our intuition, differs from person to person. It’s a gift we’ve been offered as souls in a human body, and we have to trust it to guide us rather than following a path or advice blindly.
I have had a strong intuition from childhood, which I deeply ignored until I failed over and over.
About a decade ago, for example, a man had professed his love to me. There were a dozen red flags about him and I had disregarded all of them. He was aware of this quality of mine to overlook mistakes, and took the liberty to say he wanted to be my forever partner.
My inner GPS was screaming run as fast as you can, this one is bad news. It wasn’t the first time it had warned me in life.
I still didn’t listen. I asked my friends what they’d do instead. “Give him a chance. He went on his knees to say he loves you”. Yes, but something deeply scares me……I thought. I resisted listening to my intuition once more that day.
4 years of agony followed, and I fled that relationship with a promise of listening to and honouring my intuition no matter how softly or loudly it spoke. I haven’t stopped listening ever since and life has improved for the better. I no longer fear saying no to anything that takes me off the path I had envisioned.
You may have had similar (or worse) experiences, like when your intuition said “you shouldn’t have worn that shoe today” before you left the house.
Or the time when someone pushed their rigid (religious) beliefs on you. You may have had an inkling that they weren’t suitable for you, but complied nevertheless because you wanted to be polite or liked (side note: I’ve been there and done that too, so you’re not alone).
It’s easy to fall prey to someone else’s GPS in times of doubt, fear, loneliness, and low self-esteem.
This is why trusting your inner guide, intuition, or GPS is vital. It’s not hard and can be cultivated with simple daily practices, like this awaken your intuition meditation by roaming yogi.
I like to sleep or meditate on my options before taking a tough decision, and ask my intuition for helping me choose. I have also found that intuition will communicate with us through signs, words, dreams, or uncanny coincidences. Mine said the timing for this post was right by showing me a quote on social media just before I wrote it.
I urge you to ask for this inner guidance whenever you need it. Witness and keep track of the signs you receive to master listening to your GPS in a diary (if you wish).
Trust the signs, follow them, and you’ll be led exactly where you need to be. Just like the bird who was fitted with a tracker and astonished the world with its innate sense of direction 😊
With gratitude,
Raksha