"If a heron shows up, it means:
You've approached the opportunity before you at a leisurely pace, but now it's time to grab it and go for it with gusto...Take some time for self-examination, reflecting dispassionately on your goals, motivations, actions, feelings, strengths, and limiting beliefs. Only you know what's best for you, so follow your inner wisdom and guidance rather than the dictates and pressures of others."
Animal Spirit Guides by Steven D. Farmer
As always, this beautiful bird brings a sense of stillness to the normally bustling lake. Walkers pause, mothers hush their children, bikers slowly brake, and everyone just stops, breathless. For a few minutes, we are all truly living in the now. Right now, on a warm spring day, at a lake, each aware of the others, the sun shining down on us, the water sparkling, watching the majestic heron.
Moments before I came around the bend and saw the heron, I'd been stuck in the past. An odd whiff in the air, smelling exactly like my step-grandfather's tackle box, wormy and metallic, transported me back and I was remembering Bob--how much he loved me and my brother, and how much we all took him for granted. How he was always the last to be considered in any situation. And then he died when I was ten and we all realized just how much he meant to us, only it was too late to say or do anything.
But here was the heron, and I had to let all that go so that I could experience the wonder. I was back in my body, feeling the wind on my skin, laying my hand over my heart, holding it close.