Your Thoughts Will Direct Your Life

Or at least your morning…

I drove into the park today (YAY! Finally!) and smiling past the deer lounging under the grove of trees near the entrance, thoughts of magpies drifted into my head. (I told you it’s a tangled mess of useless knowledge, jumbled images and scattered thoughts up there.) Why magpies? Because every time I enter the park I hear my fabulous friend/writing partner/sister in law’s voice in my ear, “Could you maybe get a better shot of a magpie to match up with that last poem (“Flight of the Magpie”)? Thanks, sweetie! I love you!” Like it’s really easy to catch a magpie in flight… or even just sitting in a tree long enough for me to focus my telephoto lens (hand-held no less), reel in the dog who is chasing a squirrel down the path and get the perfect shot. (Me rolling my eyes; it’s a good thing I love her, too.) “Sis” and I have been collaborating on a book of poetry and photographs for awhile now. Actually we’re done; we just keep tweaking it to avoid the task of marketing it. (“You do it.” “No, you do it.”)

What I really wanted to find in the park today (after an absence of two months OMG!) was an eagle or two. A couple of years ago, when I first discovered bald eagles actually visited our park for a few months each winter and all I had was my little Olympus point and shoot, I saw tons of them. Every single time - two or three would pose patiently for me. Problem was - my camera didn’t have the telephoto power to draw them in close. But, aha! Now I’m armed with a super duper telephoto lens and a better camera and I’m ready to meet the eagles!

So, of course I saw none today. Naughta. Zip. Nothin’. I got nothin’. (as my friend Paul would say.)

But what do you think I did see? Yup. Magpies. A ton of them. It was like a magpie convention. Everywhere I hiked, everywhere I drove – magpie after magpie after magpie. And when I didn’t see them, they literally called to me. I was almost back to the car, the dog was feeling extra frisky and running back and forth (yanking my camera-holding hand) and I hear a sweet birdcall I’ve never heard before. And it just kept calling. I look up and there’s a magpie, just looking at me, posing. Certainly not sounding like any magpie I’ve heard before. I was able to get off a couple of quick shots. (They still weren’t perfect and I'm still tweaking them; which is why I didn’t include one here, but rather a feeble attempt at a hawk shot.)

The moral of the story – and I not only find great irony here but a message. The law of attraction. No matter how badly I wanted to score an eagle, my first thought on entering the park was magpie. And I just couldn’t get it out of my head. Call me crazy (“You’re crazy, lady!”) but I really feel like I invited all those magpies into my life today. I’ve been looking for a decent shot of a magpie for – seriously – a year or more. I just had to work for it a little and be patient.

Aha! I think the message is – set my goals; invite what I want into my life and be tenacious about it. Work for it (there’s that nasty W word… that’s the bummer part – you’ve got to work for it) and it will happen.

“What you focus on expands.” ~~ Oprah

I wonder if that applies to losing weight…