Half a Step

You can want it and be careful. Both are allowed.
 
 
Half a Step is for the person who wants to move closer and wants to stay safe, both at once.
 
I made this at a similar time to the kookaburra, in a quieter, more sheltered spot nearby. There were fewer people and much lower energy. A king parrot flew up and made himself known, but he didn't want to come close. He was after something from me, probably food, and every part of him was also checking the distance. He leans off to one side in the frame, not centred, not committed. I took it to black and white.
 
I watched him wrestle with it. Curiosity pulled him in, and self-preservation pulled him back, and neither was winning. I know that feeling. It's the wish to lean toward something while wrapping yourself in bubble wrap so you can't be hurt. It's unnerving, because the two seem to cancel each other out. What I saw in the parrot was that they don't. He was still there. He was still curious. He was still growing his confidence.
 
Half a Step is for the moments when you feel both and think you must choose. You don't. Wanting to know more and wanting to stay safe can live in you at the same time. That isn't weakness. It's information. Live with him for a while and notice what changes when you stop rejecting the feeling and start working with it. Reject the feeling and you stay stuck inside it. Accept it and you can build on it. You may find you can take the next half a step.