I Heard a Bird Tweeting…

Every morning, I listened to the bird sitting on a branch near my window. I was awake, but it was the bird that woke me up. It woke me up by chirping its short, sweet tweets. The chirping sounds broke the silence that surrounded me. They give me a sense of calm, a sense of peace that all was well with me and that all was well with the world. The bird was the link to my calm. So, I looked forward to my mornings with the bird.

One day, another bird joined the first one. Both the birds began to relegate me with their music. Oh! How I loved their duet! It was the most enchanting thing in the world. I soon grew as attached to the second bird, as I was to the first one.

Steadily, the flock of birds began to grow in number. The two were joined by a third, then another two, after that, three and then five. Very soon, the tree in my garden was filled with beautiful chirping birds.

I looked at the birds and sat down to do my work. I thought that their chirping would calm me down. But it did not. There were just too many and there was just too much chirping. I was not able to think about my work, I was not able to help my son, and I was not able to listen to what my husband was saying.

The tree was not only filled with birds, it was filled with something else too. It was filled with their noise.

I didn’t want noise. No one wants noise. I wanted and got music in-between silence. But now, neither am I able to hear the music, nor the silence. All I was receiving was a lot of noise.

To fight the noise, I closed my windows tight. The noise was still out there but it was low from here inside. I wondered if the birds were still there. Sometimes, my curiosity would get the better of me, and I would open the window for a few minutes. The chirping would hit me almost instantly. And I would close the windows once again. Not only had I lost the view of my beautiful garden, I had also lost my calm.

One day, I could not take it anymore. Who did those bloody birds think they were — entering my heaven and soiling it? I decided to do something drastic. I took out an axe and brought down most of the branches of the tree. I watched the birds fly away in panic. I watched the noise receding. I watched the silence surround me. It was catharsis.

I let out a long-drawn breath. The sound of my breath broke the silence around me. I waited for a few minutes, and let out another deep breath. I listened to the sound of my own breathing and felt the calm envelop me.

Every morning, I listen to my breath. I am awake, but it is my breath that wakes me up. It wakes me up with its energy. The breathing sounds break the silence that surrounds me. They give me a sense of calm, a sense of peace that all is well with me and that all is well with the world. My breath is the link to my calm. So, I looked forward to my mornings with my breath. And with myself.

Dear Reader,

If you haven’t figured it out already, the “bird” in the story refers to the social media, and our links with it. We began our relationship with this bird in a small way, but when one bird followed another, our temptation to listen to each bird only grew louder.

We are mesmerized by the various sounds that our social media feeds carry. They carry the sounds of our family, our friends, and our interests. And these sounds are music to our eyes.

But, not every bird that sits down to chirp is a bird that chirps out of happiness. Some birds might be calling out in hunger, others might be crying out for a mate, while some might be looking to be a part of a group. The social media feeds work similarly. They carry other sounds — the sounds of anger, pity, violence, jealousy, nastiness, and heart-ache.

Now that we have let the noise in, it is up to us to filter it down.

Here’s to becoming aware of what we let in!