Own Your Greatness & Fly as High As You Dare

This is inspired by a wonderful man, who related this story to me.

In the middle of the ocean sails a ship, with no land in sight and nothing but the empty ocean as far as the eye can see. The sailors are not alone however, since they are guided by a small flock of albatrosses, who fly high above the ship, with their beautiful, magnificent wings spread out majestically. Each day the sailors watch these beautiful proud birds with desire and envy for the albatross is totally free and able to always know what path to follow, without compass or guide.

The sailors wish to know the secret behind these abilities. They begin to entice the great birds by offering them fish. The albatrosses swoop down and grab the fish easily without setting feet on the deck of the ship.

However, one day a crafty sailor manages to “capture” one of the magnificent birds. He names it Alfie and immediately clips his wings so that Alfie cannot fly away. Now whilst Alfie had been flying around the ship and diving for the fish, he kept saying to himself –

“Oh! How I wish to rest these wings of mine. There below is a ship, where the men work hard and every so often they stop working and they rest. Why can’t I do the same? Even better, these men have a vessel to take them wherever they want to go, I wish I did not have to fly everywhere. I bet they would also offer me all the fish that I want so I wont even have to find food for myself.”

Although something tells Alfie not to get close to the sailors, he ignores the voice and allows himself to be captured. He allows his great wings to be clipped, after all, he won’t need them anymore and the sailors will feed him all the food he desires. For a short while, all is well for both Alfie and the sailors.

The sailors believe that Alfie is frightened after being captured and therefore are gentle with him. They know they have time and so they are patient and treat him with great respect. Alfie is content with being fed and waddling around the deck all day. He scorns his magnificent brothers in the sky, asking them, why they fly, when they too could just wait to be fed, without using up all there energy. After one week, the sailors are now impatient to hear the secret behind the great glorious albatross, where does it get its confidence from, how does it know where to go and where does it get its greatness?They sit Alfie down and start asking him these questions. Alfie is totally bewildered – he does not understand the language of man, he thinks only that they are going to give him more fish. After a few hours of interrogation, the sailors let Alfie alone and go away to think about what they should do next. Alfie wonders around aimlessly since no one is paying him any attention. In fact a few of the men snigger as he waddles by. The sailors decide that they will not feed Alfie until he tells them what they wish to know.

After two days without being fed, Alfies feathers begin to lose their brilliance and some of them start to fall out. Alfie waddles on the ship deck, looking foolish as he tries to find fish to eat. He jumps on the handrail and can see the fish in the water below him, but he realizes that he can no longer fish, because without his wings, he will surely be eaten by a shark since he will be unable to get out of the water again. After three days have passed, the sailors sit him down again and ask him the same questions. Alfie is truly frightened for the first time in his life, he does not understand the language of man but he senses the anger and aggression and begins to fear that the sailors will harm him. He struggles to free himself and the sailors let him go, they are disgusted with this stupid dumb bird, who can’t even fly now. They tease him as he fumbles around the ship deck. The sailors wonder how they could ever have believed that this stupid animal could once have been magnificent, proud and confident. Understanding, that the albatross will never reveal its secret, they decided to let Alfie be and although they feed him, for the most part they just ignore him or laugh at his clumsiness.

Alfie is terribly unhappy and though he has what he desired, a vessel that will take him to where he wants and food at will, he feels none of the glory, the pride and the sense of direction and purpose that he had previously. He sits and he watches his brothers fly high and free in the sky. He no longer mocks them for his only desire now is to be free, as free as they are. He asks them for forgiveness at his rudeness and his harsh words. Alfie’s brothers cannot assist him but they know that all will be well once Alfie truly remembers who he is.

As time goes by, neither Alfie nor the sailors have noticed that Alfie’s feathers are growing back, until one day Alfie wakes up and shaking his wings, he feels the wind ruffling through them, and as he senses the wind, he begins to flap them and flap them and flap them. With each flap of his wings, it is as if Alfie awakens from a great sleep. He feels his whole body become bigger and broader, he feels the strength and the power coming into each bone in his body, he puffs out his chest and can feel the magnificence of his whole being return to him.

The sailors hearing the noise of Alfie’s wings, turn and can only stare as they watch the clumsy stupid bird, change into the great, magnificent and majestic bird that it was previously and as they watch, they understand what it is that allows the albatross to be have the confidence to fly unguided, with purpose and direction, trusting in it’s own magnificence and knowledge that it can and will achieve what ever it has set out to do. With one last hefty flap of his wings, Alfie takes off and joins his wonderful brothers – free of mind and spirit – guiding the ship to its next destination.

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Now my friend was trying to illustrate to me that he saw himself as Alfie the albatross; a person with a great purpose here on earth and towards the rest of humanity. However, in relating the story to me my friend tells me that Alfie makes a mistake and is captured by the sailors and once captured, Alfie is reduced to the clumsy fumbling bird.

My friend uses the example to explain that others have clipped his wings and thus stop him for achieving his greatness, however he does not speak of the mistake which lead to the losing of his power. He feels that time and time again this is what happens to him others take away his power from him.

My own interpretation of the story is that, Alfie chooses to be captured because he wants an easier life than that with which he has been served. By allowing his wings to be clipped, Alfie then loses his power, his glory and his own magnificence. However, when his wings grow back, he has learned his lesson and immediately chooses to take his place among his brothers and pursue his own life purpose.

With this illustration, my friend could see how the “mistake” was in fact a subconscious choice, which then allows others to take his power.

So do you choose to forsake your greatness for material comfort or financial gain or do you choose to accept that inner compass, which will guide you to your life purpose via multiple destinations? Leading you to then stand in your greatness, serving yourself and the rest of humanity in the process? Or do you have another interpretation of the story? Maybe you will see it from the sailors perspective. My challenge for you today – take a few moments to look at some of the choices you have made, have you given up or power or have you owned your greatness? Is this something that occurs often or is it a once off? What could you do to ensure that you never have your wings clipped again? Stand in your greatness and fly as high as you dare.

http://www.savethealbatross.net/images.asp