Creative Exchange: Live like a hummer

I was surveying the gardens with my camera last night after work. The hummingbird feeders are out and I was hoping to see one. It’s very hard to get a shot of a hummer at the feeder with a 70 pound Golden Retriever bounding around the yard at warp speed.

Click. Blurry. Delete.
Click. Blurry. Delete.

It’s almost dusk. I listen for the familiar chirp and spy one in the tree. Click. Too dark? When viewing it on the computer, I thrilled at the silhouette-like effect. The only addition I made was the border.

Hummingbirds fascinate me. They defy logic. Their size alone should preclude their survival. Beginning as an egg the size of a pea and weighing a fraction of an ounce when grown, a hummer is bold and aggressive, dive bombing other hummers in defense of their food sources. But when one must eat every 10 minutes during the day, one may get a bit territorial. Hummers live each day on the edge. It takes a lot of energy to live on the edge…physically, mentally and emotionally. Whose with me on this one?

Can you live like a hummingbird?

Hummers fly forwards, backwards, up, down and upside-down. They can hover, suspended in mid air. Can you hover? Can you be suspended in time; to hover and savor each moment before flying off to the next bright, shiny, new thing?

With seemingly lightening speed, a hummer leisurely flies by your head at 30 mph (48 kph); increasing speed to 50 mph (80 kph) when escaping a predator; maxing out at 63 mph (101 kph) when dive bombing a threat.

On average, a hummer flaps its wings 52 times per second. No wonder all we see is a blur! But to their credit, they spend 80% of their time perching and resting. Are you living life in a blur? Many times I think I am. What would happen if we all spent less time flying in a blur and more time sitting quietly, observing, conserving our energy for the most important things in life?

A hummer’s heart beats 250 beats per minute when at rest; 1200 beats per minute when feeding. Okay, sometimes I get excited about eating, but this may be a bit ridiculous. Sounds more like a cardiac arrest waiting to happen. But…heartbeats equal life. If that’s the case, hummers definitely live life to the fullest. Can you have a heart that works in overdrive every minute of the day?

Live the impossible.

Like I said before, hummers seem to defy logic. They’re tiny; seemingly vulnerable; living on the edge of death every single day. The odds are stacked against them to survive. Is that you?

Most birds use their wing’s down-stroke to power themselves in flight, but hummers use their wing’s up-stroke as well. It would seem this would work counter-intuitively against each other, but it allows for both speed and grace. Are you using life’s ups and downs to power your spirit?

So I encourage you to live the impossible.
Even when the odds are seemingly against you, live like a hummingbird:

Despite your size, be bold and aggressive when it counts.
Fly with grace…even if you have to occasionally dive bomb.
Spend time conserving energy for the important things in life.
Use your heart and live life, hovering and savoring each moment.
Feed yourself often with things that help you stay strong mentally, physically and spiritually.

Sub­mitted for The Cre­ative Exchange | Lisa Gordon Photography