You know the thing nobody tells you about transformation? The real magic isn’t in the big moments. It’s in what happens when you learn to be still enough to notice what’s already there. I learned this in the most unexpected way on a rainy Tuesday morning that tweaked how I see resilience and change.
You know one of those moments that stop you in your tracks? The ones that feel like the universe is kind of tapping you on your shoulder saying, pay attention, this matters? I had one of those moments recently. Picture this: it’s pouring rain outside my window, not just regular rain, we’re talking serious heavy North Carolina downpour like the stuff you see during hurricanes.
But it was the kind that makes you want to cancel all your plans and stay in bed. But here, perched on a traffic cone out the window, on the road, was this really incredible-looking red-shouldered hawk. No, I didn’t know it was a hawk, but I googled the image to see what it was because it was so impressive.
And so I wanted to know more about this bird. I wanted to know what kind of bird would not be seeking shelter, that would just be being in that kind of rain. And in that moment, what I thought I knew about handling life’s storms kind of shifted a bit.
Here’s what fascinates me about hawks as I read more about them. And this is something most people don’t know: hawks have multiple focal points in their eyes. I’m not exactly sure what they’re called, but they’re multiple focal points. This makes their eyes a little bit different.
While humans only have one focal point and have to constantly shift our attention between things, hawks can literally focus on multiple things simultaneously with perfect clarity. Pretty cool, huh? Wish we had that.
Imagine for a moment, while we’re struggling to juggle our attention, hawks are naturally designed to hold multiple clear views simultaneously.
And there I was, watching this hawk, my own mind scattered over a dozen different concerns, upcoming meetings, next week’s deadlines, last week’s unfinished projects. There’s always a list, right?
All while this magnificent creature sat in perfect stillness, somehow holding everything in its view at once.
You know, I used to be the queen of doing rather than being, a classic type A achiever, always moving, always planning, always proud of my ability to multitask. Sound familiar to anyone?
Well, I want to take you back maybe 15, 20 years. I had just finished a book by Deepak Chopra and noticed he was doing a book tour that included a synagogue near my parents’ home in South Florida. And I thought, why not? I can go to the book tour, stop to see my parents, fun excuse for a getaway.
I had heard he usually does meditations for large groups, and I was excited to be led in meditation live. So, before you think this is going to be some woo-woo story, let me tell you, I went there as a skeptic, a driven, results-oriented businesswoman who thought sitting still was a waste of time.
I was not the hawk.
And then at the end of the talk, he did the meditation session I had been waiting for, and I experienced something I still fully can’t explain—the sensation of actually levitating.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking because it’s exactly what I would have thought before the moment. But here’s the thing: whether my body actually left the cushion doesn’t matter. But I will tell you, I did open my eyes to see what the heck was going on. What matters is that for the first time in my life, I experienced what it meant to truly be still.
Like that hawk on the traffic cone, I wasn’t trying to make anything happen. I wasn’t pushing, I wasn’t striving or forcing. I was just being. And in that stillness, things started to open up.
There was this lightness, and that single experience led me down a path I never expected. I started studying Ayurveda, the world’s oldest holistic healing system, and meditation, ultimately becoming a certified total well-being educator, becoming an International Coaching Federation credentialed life coach.
But the real transformation wasn’t in the credentials or the studying. It was in learning to see things differently.
Things changed, and isn’t that fascinating? Just like the hawk, I hadn’t changed my fundamental nature—that drive, that focus, that determination, it was all still there—but just as the hawk has those multiple lenses that let it hold several clear views at once, I developed a new way of seeing my life’s challenges.
Think about it. The hawk doesn’t need to become a different bird to see clearly in multiple directions. It already has everything it needs. It just needs to use its natural abilities differently.
And that’s what happened in my transformation. I didn’t become a different person. I just learned to use the abilities I already had, but in a new way, a way that works immensely better for me—less stress, less chaos, more clarity.
Let me show you how this plays out in real life. This summer, I was working with a client who’s brilliant at problem-solving. That’s kind of her hawk nature, if you will. But she was really exhausting herself trying to juggle multiple priorities at work, always switching tasks, sometimes dropping the balls, but always proud of her multitasking.
When she learned to pause and observe, like the hawk, something shifted. It shifts for all of us. Instead of frantically switching between focal points, she began to develop what I call hawk vision, or awareness—the ability to hold multiple perspectives with clarity, rather than chaos.
And with this awareness, she started seeing patterns she’d missed before—how certain projects connected, where team energies aligned, what truly needed her attention versus what she could let go.
And maybe for you, it’s being great at taking care of others, but feeling scattered across too many possibilities or responsibilities. Having amazing attention to detail but getting lost, switching between too many priorities, or maybe it’s being naturally innovative but having so many ideas you can’t focus on any of them.
The hawk doesn’t frantically switch between focal points. It doesn’t strain or stress about holding multiple views. It simply sees with natural clarity, holding everything in perfect focus.
And this is what I’ve discovered about resilience and real transformation. It’s not about becoming someone new. It’s not about getting better at juggling our attention. It’s about developing a completely different way of seeing.
This transformation in perception, this ability to develop awareness, is actually teachable. That’s what fascinated me most in my journey from skeptical, stressed businesswoman to credentialed coach and keynote speaker.
We all have these natural abilities, these hawk-like gifts. We just need to learn to use them differently.
It’s why I’ve spent the last year building out my Clarity Coaching Program, launching at the end of January. It’s totally different than any resilience coaching program you’ve likely heard of. And I am so excited about the outcomes because I’ve seen what happens when people learn to access their natural wisdom in their lives.
When they stop trying to become different people and instead learn to see with new eyes.
So here’s what I want you to try this week. Let’s call it the hawk practice. Choose one situation where you feel scattered or overwhelmed. Instead of trying to juggle everything, take three slow breaths and ask yourself, “If I had hawk vision right now, if I had awareness about the situation, what might I see?”
And then I want you to notice what patterns or connections emerge when you just stop switching between perspectives and try to hold them all in plain view at once. Pay attention to what becomes clear when you stop struggling to multitask and instead allow yourself to see with natural clarity.
You know what’s most remarkable about the hawk’s ability to see all these multiple perspectives? They didn’t develop this ability by working harder or moving faster or flying faster. It’s not about straining to see more. It’s about allowing themselves to see differently.
And maybe that’s the final secret that they’re trying to share with us. True clarity doesn’t come from frantically switching between points of view or trying to juggle multiple things at once. It comes from developing the ability to hold everything in view with natural ease.
So, I’d love to hear your stories of moments when you experience this kind of clarity. Share them with me on Instagram @TrueBasisHealth. And, if you’re ready to develop this kind of profound perception in your own life, reach out to me for details about the coaching program release. I’d love for you to explore how to move from scattered attention to deep awareness—natural clarity in ways that transform how you navigate change.
So, until next time, this is Micah Hill signing out, reminding you, you don’t need to work harder at seeing everything at once, you just need to learn to see like the hawk, with natural clarity, perfect focus, and effortless grace.
