A couple of days ago, my friend Pilar told me a story that really touched me. It may not be an extraordinary story, but it mirrors how life started off for so many of us. And this came a few hours after I did a live video on facebook talking exactly about that.
So Pilar knew an old guy who lived on his own. He was a venomous and bitter kind of person. His wife, who was really sweet and really unhappy, died a few years ago, and his daughters kept their contact with him to a bare minimum. The guy had a gorgeous parrot in a very small cage, he had decided that the parrot was a male and called him Manolo. He would cover the cage with a blanket at night, and would often leave the blanket on for days, so the parrot would keep quiet in the dark.
About six months ago the guy died and his daughters asked Pilar if she would take the parrot, which she agreed to do. She bought a big cage for it, which was necessary because it was very scared and had never been out of its first cage. Also, she needed to protect it for the time it would take her cat and dog to get used to it and respect it. She soon found out that it was a female and adjusted her name to Manola.
Manola started changing very fast, she became less lethargic, less stiff with fear, and it took her a few days only to start calling everyone in the family – four people and the other two pets – by their names.
Now imagine this beautiful creature who was able to spread her wings inside her new cage for the first time in her life, at 8 years of age. And show her most beautiful colours, that are hidden on the inside of her wings and only show when she opens them.
After a couple of months, Pilar started opening the door of her cage to let her out, but she would only duck in the corner opposite the opening, as far away from it as possible. It took her a long time before she dared put her head though it, and more time before she got out for the first time. Only these last few weeks, after a whole six months, is she starting to feel comfortable being walked around the room on Pilar’s arm. But she won’t let go of her yet. She’s too scared to jump to the ground, so Pilar will lie down and put her arm on the floor and Manola is now learning to walk off her arm onto the tiles.
I was close to tears when she told me that. But she’s slowly teaching her to become more confident, she’ll wait until she can flutter around the room, then around the house, then fly, and then one day, fly outside as well.
Most of us are brought up this way, in a small cage and with a blanket over our heads so we keep quiet and don’t disturb.
They make us believe that we’re not good enough, that we are small and limited, that our dreams are silly idle fantasies, that fear will keep us safe, that we must dread everyone else’s opinion. But these are all big lies. We all have the potential to fly, even if we don’t know it.
And the first time someone tells us so, we’re likely not to believe them. It can take many attempts before a spark kindles us. But once it does, we start seeing it, and then it becomes a matter of not letting fear quench that fire.
Are we scared? Of course we are!
Are we going to let fear stop us? Not anymore! We want to see the full picture now!
So live and sing like you know how to fly, because deep down you actually do, even if you’re still figuring things out on your way!
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