Barry Lauterwasser is an incredible inspiration to me – he created and maintains a blog called Positive Economic News – which is his way of countering the preponderance of negativity in mainstream media, by featuring ONLY, you guessed it, positive economic news.
I first connected with Barry at the end of February, right as the stock market’s dramatic dip was reaching it’s low-point. I live in New York City, and the energetic decrease in the community was palpable. This was in the beginning of a broad campaign I was expanding as a writing and creative coach, primarily focused on my intention to spread optimism.
Needless to say, Barry and I hit it off very well, as our missions to be a voice of positive influence in our communities are aligned and overlapping in many ways. I was thrilled when he spontaneously emailed me this story. As a writing coach, I was struck by the unique, poetic tone, and immediately asked Barry if I could share.
Here it is:
Just a few feet from my office window sits a Robin’s nest. She built it a few months ago in a pine tree positioned on the corner of our house. I watched her labor each day as piece by piece she assembled her home. And now I see three little heads poking up as she brings them food. In the morning while I sip my coffee I stand at the window, occasionally whistling to her (I do and excellent bird call). She has never seemed to fear me. She just sits there and stares, sometimes cocking her head as if to say “what in the world, dude….” and I think “well what would I think if while sipping my coffee looking out the window a bird started talking to me saying ‘my oil drippings are ripe with adventure.'”
Anyway, she’s been an inspiring story for me as I see how simple her life is, not knowing if she’s acting on instinct, or if she thinks of me as a protector, and nuisance (much as my kids do), and how she’s doing as a mom. Is she overwhelmed? I don’t know. We assume many things about other species, when in fact we KNOW very little, because really we either want to cage them and observe them, run them off, or eat them…
I love life, I love the opportunity to live life, and I think I’m doing pretty well at finding my chi and balancing it. Still…have you ever found yourself wanting to be a Robin?
-Barry Lauterwasser
Thank you, Barry! I love the way you captured your stream-of-consciousness in this message. Whether or not you had intended a work of creative writing when you composed that email, it seems you’ve ended up with just that. That’s one thing I love about life: how creativity simply pops up when least expected, when we allow ourselves to be inspired.
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