Here is a brief excerpt from an article by Mukundarajan V N.

Photo credit: listverse.com

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During winter, birds fly thousands of miles across continents to find temporary homes. Bird migration is one of Nature’s marvels. The sight of small birds flying non-stop for hundreds of miles every day is an amazing spectacle that brings instant joy in our minds.

In the picture above we have the Arctic tern which flies about 70,900 kilometers (44,100 miles) on average during the long journey from the Arctic to the Antarctic every year.

Bird migration is a visible testimony to Nature’s cyclical and self-balancing patterns. The human-centric vision is blind to Nature’s wonders. Hubris defines an anthropocentric worldview. Humans think they are the so-called chosen species that will rule the universe. The willful blindness to human limitations has made us treat Nature as a resource to exploit instead of a living organism that is a model for sustainable living.

We can learn many life lessons if If we pause a moment and look around Nature. What do migratory birds teach us about life?

Embrace uncertainty

Nothing terrifies humans than uncertainty. We struggle to navigate life’s uncertainties. Little do we realize that it is impossible to plan for every eventuality in life.

Birds face an existential crisis in winter. The harsh climate poses a serious threat to their lives. Food becomes scarce. Birds instinctually accept reality. They don’t depend on experts to tell them what to do to overcome a crisis. They take a leap of faith and fly to distant pastures to find salubrious homes.

Our mental limits are self-imposed

Faulty self-perceptions prevent humans from realizing their potential. Conditioned by childhood experiences and reinforced by later life events, each of us has a mental image of what we can achieve.

Humans are perennial underachievers. Fear of failure prevents us from trying our best when we face challenging moments in life. The inadequacy of our self-images becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Nobody can imagine that birds will fly thousands of miles. Birds do not feel constrained by fears of incapability. They don’t even think of failure. They just take off en masse. Not trying to break free of their natural limits is not an option for them as Nature punishes laziness and inaction mercilessly.

Harness one’s strengths to face challenges

Each one of us is unique in our abilities and dispositions. We have our own strengths and weaknesses. When we face moments of crisis, we cannot rely on any magic formula to pull us out of trouble. Each of us has to tap into their own inner reservoirs of skills, abilities, and strengths and adopt their own strategies to ride out the crises.

Migratory birds have smaller brains than resident birds. This feature helps them conserve energy while flying interminable distances. According to ornithologists, migratory birds take hundreds of naps as they fly. They also practise unilateral eye closure in which one eye closes, permitting half of the brain to sleep.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.