{"id":126,"date":"2010-08-18T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/?p=126"},"modified":"2021-05-08T14:40:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T14:40:59","slug":"for-the-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I woke up this morning at 6:06. My clock said 6:12, but I set my clock a little ahead of real time so I can have five minutes or so of just BEING before moving. My alarm was set for 6:25, but it is not unusual for me to wake naturally just a few minutes before my programmed wake-up time. It\u2019s as if setting my alarm is only a ritual I perform in order to go to sleep feeling secure that I won\u2019t \u201cmiss anything\u201d important. I almost never do. My body knows when to stir itself awake.<\/p>\n

When the read-out on my old GE clock radio flashed 6:23, I turned the volume dial all the way to the left, just before the \u201cwake to music\u201d cue would shock the ease of my dream space with something from my favorite station\u2019s play list or a foreboding traffic report. For a few minutes, I simply stretched my legs and wondered what part of the floor the book I was reading before falling asleep may have landed. (I almost always knock it out of bed.) And I was listening to the birds.<\/p>\n

The birds outside my window were having a helluva talk this morning.<\/p>\n

I could discern the distinct sound of one bird prattling on to what seemed to be a small group within hearing range. Three or four different voices called back. Each spoke at his own pitch. Each had his own way of slurring some of his cries and registering others as a staccato sort of tapping. Hu-eeet, Hu-eeet. Ah-ah-ahh-ah-ahhh. They obviously didn\u2019t believe in texting. It was a sort of joyous noise, a song of familiarity. What did they talk about? Where they found food in the neighborhood alleys? Did they talk about lost loves, or other yearnings? Ee-ee-eee, hu-eet. Were they discussing the weather? Were they warning each other not to get caught in the pulley of an electric garage door? Their exchange seemed excited at first, as if they hadn’t seen each other for a long time. Then their calls grew longer as did the pauses between their back and forthing.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t wake up so that I can get ready for work. I don\u2019t wake up in the morning so that I can meditate or write in my journal. I don\u2019t wake up in the morning so that I can make apple pancakes and take my vitamins…although I may do all these things.<\/p>\n

I wake up precisely for this<\/strong><\/em> moment. I wake up so I can hear the birds, so I can hear the birds talking to each other when everything else in the world is cotton on cotton quiet.<\/p>\n

Waking up to the simple, satisfied chirping of a sparrow is no small thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I woke up this morning at 6:06. My clock said 6:12, but I set my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","grateful-dozen-beauty","grateful-dozen-noticing-small-things"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFor the Birds – No Small Thing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For the Birds – No Small Thing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I woke up this morning at 6:06. My clock said 6:12, but I set my...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"No Small Thing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NoSmallThingMindfulMeditations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-08-18T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-08T14:40:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_INNUA60IYSQ\/TGvLlFc_R6I\/AAAAAAAAAFg\/lQgfgN-TXBM\/s320\/dawn.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nosmalladmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"nosmalladmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"nosmalladmin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/068a68011d8a650958cb95074ba6251b\"},\"headline\":\"For the Birds\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-18T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-08T14:40:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":466,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/1.bp.blogspot.com\\\/_INNUA60IYSQ\\\/TGvLlFc_R6I\\\/AAAAAAAAAFg\\\/lQgfgN-TXBM\\\/s320\\\/dawn.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/\",\"name\":\"For the Birds – No Small Thing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/1.bp.blogspot.com\\\/_INNUA60IYSQ\\\/TGvLlFc_R6I\\\/AAAAAAAAAFg\\\/lQgfgN-TXBM\\\/s320\\\/dawn.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-08-18T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-08T14:40:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/1.bp.blogspot.com\\\/_INNUA60IYSQ\\\/TGvLlFc_R6I\\\/AAAAAAAAAFg\\\/lQgfgN-TXBM\\\/s320\\\/dawn.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/1.bp.blogspot.com\\\/_INNUA60IYSQ\\\/TGvLlFc_R6I\\\/AAAAAAAAAFg\\\/lQgfgN-TXBM\\\/s320\\\/dawn.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/for-the-birds\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"For the Birds\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/\",\"name\":\"No Small Thing\",\"description\":\"Mindful Meditations\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"No Small Thing Mindful Meditations\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/NoSmallThing-MindfulMeditations-Deborah-Hawkins2021-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/04\\\/NoSmallThing-MindfulMeditations-Deborah-Hawkins2021-1.png\",\"width\":448,\"height\":144,\"caption\":\"No Small Thing Mindful Meditations\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/NoSmallThingMindfulMeditations\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/instagram.com\\\/nosmallthingdeborah\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/deborah-hawkins-08958012\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nosmallthing.net\\\/main\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/068a68011d8a650958cb95074ba6251b\",\"name\":\"nosmalladmin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b5b02579b0ef8b6e2bb1dde5b72a3a336d4ede128ab2c79fb0dd996649644a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b5b02579b0ef8b6e2bb1dde5b72a3a336d4ede128ab2c79fb0dd996649644a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b5b02579b0ef8b6e2bb1dde5b72a3a336d4ede128ab2c79fb0dd996649644a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"nosmalladmin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"For the Birds – No Small Thing","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"For the Birds – No Small Thing","og_description":"I woke up this morning at 6:06. My clock said 6:12, but I set my...","og_url":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/","og_site_name":"No Small Thing","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NoSmallThingMindfulMeditations\/","article_published_time":"2010-08-18T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-08T14:40:59+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_INNUA60IYSQ\/TGvLlFc_R6I\/AAAAAAAAAFg\/lQgfgN-TXBM\/s320\/dawn.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"nosmalladmin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"nosmalladmin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/"},"author":{"name":"nosmalladmin","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/068a68011d8a650958cb95074ba6251b"},"headline":"For the Birds","datePublished":"2010-08-18T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-08T14:40:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/"},"wordCount":466,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_INNUA60IYSQ\/TGvLlFc_R6I\/AAAAAAAAAFg\/lQgfgN-TXBM\/s320\/dawn.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/","url":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/","name":"For the Birds – No Small Thing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_INNUA60IYSQ\/TGvLlFc_R6I\/AAAAAAAAAFg\/lQgfgN-TXBM\/s320\/dawn.jpg","datePublished":"2010-08-18T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-08T14:40:59+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_INNUA60IYSQ\/TGvLlFc_R6I\/AAAAAAAAAFg\/lQgfgN-TXBM\/s320\/dawn.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_INNUA60IYSQ\/TGvLlFc_R6I\/AAAAAAAAAFg\/lQgfgN-TXBM\/s320\/dawn.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/for-the-birds\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"For the Birds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/","name":"No Small Thing","description":"Mindful Meditations","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#organization","name":"No Small Thing Mindful Meditations","url":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/NoSmallThing-MindfulMeditations-Deborah-Hawkins2021-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/NoSmallThing-MindfulMeditations-Deborah-Hawkins2021-1.png","width":448,"height":144,"caption":"No Small Thing Mindful Meditations"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NoSmallThingMindfulMeditations\/","https:\/\/instagram.com\/nosmallthingdeborah","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/deborah-hawkins-08958012"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/#\/schema\/person\/068a68011d8a650958cb95074ba6251b","name":"nosmalladmin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5b02579b0ef8b6e2bb1dde5b72a3a336d4ede128ab2c79fb0dd996649644a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5b02579b0ef8b6e2bb1dde5b72a3a336d4ede128ab2c79fb0dd996649644a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b5b02579b0ef8b6e2bb1dde5b72a3a336d4ede128ab2c79fb0dd996649644a56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"nosmalladmin"}}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"nosmalladmin","author_link":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/author\/nosmalladmin\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/category\/uncategorized\/\" rel=\"category tag\">Uncategorized<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"I woke up this morning at 6:06. My clock said 6:12, but I set my...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosmallthing.net\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}