That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change,

but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.

From Everyday Gyaan

The birds that fly over me and nest in my hair (and yes, my hair WOULD make a very good bird's nest!) are nocturnal ones. Not as wise as owls though.

Tuesday night, I went to bed - after meditation, mark you - (fail, fail, fail, Caroline) - and those damned birds were positively Hitchcockian. Positively? No - nothing positive about them.

I knew I had two pieces of work to get done the next day - one, a script for a new client, two, a marketing pitch for a big company.

Those birds convinced me that I wouldn't be able to do either job. That I was full of bullshit when I was saying to my clients 'Oh yes, OF COURSE I'll be able do that.' That inspiration would have gone Absent Without Leave. That my reputation would be in tatters...

No amount of telling myself that thinking like this was IDIOTIC...no amount of saying to myself 'You KNOW you get like this sometimes at night and everything will look different in the morning,' served to calm those birds. They didn't only nest in my hair, they laid eggs and the eggs hatched.

Not much sleep was had by Caroline Coxon.

And in the morning, things looked different, the birds had gone but inspiration hadn't, and I rattled off both jobs (I think, very well) in record time.

I have a new anti-bird policy.