Presence Doesn’t Equal Stillness

Another life lesson from the Great Blue Heron

Photo by William Foley on Unsplash

I’ve written more about the Great Blue Heron than any other animal. For my birthday a few years ago I invited several friends to make art with my painting teacher. I told her to do whatever she wanted and she had us all paint our spirit animals in gouache. I painted a Great Blue Heron which I still have above my desk.

I recently read that in the Shona and Ndebele cultures of Zimbabwe, each person is given a totem at birth. The totem is considered a guardian animal spirit meant to be a protector, but it is believed that sometimes the human emulates the characteristics of their totem spirit.

I was not born into a culture that anointed me with a totem at birth, but I would like to believe that, had I been born with such a blessing, my spirit animal would have been the Great Blue Heron.

I consider all herons, but especially the Great Blue Heron to be an important and consistent messenger in my life. Historically the heron has been a symbol of stillness and patience for me. As a person who runs “panicky,” seeing a Great Blue Heron wading like a statue in the shallows of the lake by my house is a daily gift. I can visit the heron and still myself. I am reminded to breathe slowly as I take in the grandeur of the heron’s S-curve neck and Z-lined legs. She moves even more…