This short writing is about the power of perspective and our need as humans to circle around certain issues and events in our lives before we can find and settle into a truth that seems to emerge from our time spent in inner communion.

Homing pigeons, when released from a cage, have to circle until they get their bearings, getting connected with the earth’s magnetic field before they can use their innate ability to find home over long distances. Truth is like that for me. I need it in my wings to navigate. I often circle around events and circumstances in my life until I can find something true, something unburdened by false perception.

My power needs a point of entry or there is little chance of flight. Secrets weigh too much. Piled too high inside, they crumble from over stacking, like library returns left unattended too long. Heavy with unspoken words, books without buoyancy fall to the floor with their covers still closed.

The discipline of circling gives me extra time to open my eyes and my senses to what lies hidden in the fields between chaos and clarity. Emergent truth requires an inner communion, a diligent preparation. It’s not a struggle to perform this task, but it does take honest striving to realize a true life.

Once they have aligned themselves, homing pigeons fly to their destination by the most direct route possible. My own circling does not bestow such a magical power. Thoughts and emotions toss me through the skies, following the pattern a child might make tracing her first, “follow by number”, “connect the dots” picture.

Then again, to fly directly home would be to miss the discoveries in the twists and turns, the unexpected views which accompany temporary disorientation. Always, I must find the balance within again, emptying my heart of its secrets, so that my wings stay light and true.

How to Put Truth in Your Wings to Navigate Change