Short Story: The Chick Being Born

A short story of inspiration for those navigating change - in self, in a relationship, in their sense of calling - to provide comfort for the journey ahead. Times of change are tremendously disruptive, yet we can take guidance from our teachers, practices, and nature herself.

Transcript

Hello everyone.

Today I'm going to read you an inspirational short story.

This is by the poet Mark Nepo.

And it's called The Chick Being Born.

Every crack is also an opening.

When in the midst of great change,

It is helpful to remember how a chick is born.

From the view of the chick it is a terrifying struggle.

Confined and curled in a dark shell,

Half formed,

The chick eats all of its food and stretches to the contours of its shell.

It begins to feel hungry and cramped.

Eventually the chick begins to starve and feels suffocated by the ever shrinking space of its world.

Finally its own growth begins to crack the shell and the world as the chick knows it is coming to an end.

Its sky is falling.

As the chick wriggles through the cracks it begins to eat its shell.

In that moment,

Growing but fragile,

Starving and cramped,

Its world breaking.

The chick must feel like it is dying.

Yet once everything it has relied upon falls away,

The chick is born.

It doesn't die,

But falls into the world.

The lesson is profound.

Transformation always involves the falling away of things we have relied on.

And we are left with the feeling that the world as we know it is coming to an end.

Because it is.

Yet the chick offers us the wisdom that the way to be born while still alive is to eat our own shell.

When faced with great change in self,

In relationship,

In our sense of calling,

We somehow must take in all that has enclosed us,

Nurtured us,

Incubated us.

So that when the new life is upon us,

The old is within us.

Thank you for letting me share that with you and I hope that it brings you a sense of inspiration for whatever big change or transformation you might be going through.

Bye.

Reviews

Lovely

Sound like my journey to recovery ❤️‍🩹
Bless you!

That was a really interesting perspective on change, thank you 💜

Really beautiful., calming and uplifting. Thank you.

This was a great visual and a start up to end the shell you have been living in.
Eat the shell.

Nice! A very useful insight for me. Like that it’s wisdom taken from nature. Thank you for sharing Brittney!

You have a lovely spoken voice 😇
The short story was profound ..... a nice way to look at change as an opportunity rather than being something that might not bring better things. Thank you for posting this🐣💡

Perfect...thank you.