Slight obsession with owls....
So a few of my friends who have seen my blog are surprised by the fact that I have birds rather than owls in my background. So, to give you a little insight, I may have a small obsession with owls. Check out the gallery at the end of the post.
I've always viewed owls as wise animals, not because I know anything about owls, but just because of culture. When I picture an owl, I picture something with old wisdom and advice to be heeded. I'm not sure where it came from, but having different owl things around the house and at work are comforting to me. So, for this post, slightly longer than my normal, I decided to research a little bit how different cultures view owls, and the findings were very interesting (via Wikipedia).
US - The US associates owls with wisdom. This comes from Ancient Greece, where Athens and Athena had the owl as a symbol. Popular culture shows owls everywhere, as teachers such as Owl from Winnie the Pooh, loyal friends such as Hedwig from Harry Potter, and warriors such as Soren from Legend of the Guardians.
Americas - Central and South America associate owls with sorcery and other evils. They are also a symbol of death and destruction. I thought it was funny that the common use of owls in conversation is when parents are telling off misbehaving children. In order to scare the kids, they'll say "the owls will get you".
India - I didn't read this online, but one of my coworkers one day saw me wearing a ring with an owl on it and thought it was funny. When he asked me about it, I told him my view of owls. He mentioned that in India, calling someone an owl, is the same as calling them stupid. This was extremely interesting to me, because it's so the opposite of how I viewed them.
Africa - To this day, owls are seen as a bad omen. They are believed to be harbingers of bad luck, ill health, or death. Many believe that if you see an owl fly by, it means that someone from your family has passed away.
Wherever my perception of wise owls came from, all I know is that they comfort me as I walk out the door, as I work, or as I go out wearing one. Check out some from my collection below:
The first picture, at the beginning of the post, is of a family of owls. I bought it while on vacation a few weeks back with my family. It reminds me to relax and just enjoy the present, regardless of what the activity may be. Since it's sitting on top of my media center set up, the activity is typically watching basketball with Zoey napping next to me.
This owl is just below the lookout hole in my door. On the back of it, it says "Be happy". I taped it to my apartment door and every time I leave, I look at it and try to head out with a positive attitude to take on the day.
This owl sits at the bottom center of my monitor at work. When I need a quick break from looking at the screen, I take a few seconds and just focus on it. All the colors and the heart make me happy, so I'm able to jump back into whatever I'm working on with a good attitude.
The owl on my keychain is pretty much always with me. It's super light too, so it's easy to hold on to and squeeze it when I need to. Plus, there's little rhinestones on the branch, which just make it even more awesome.
And lastly, I can't consider myself an owl enthusiast without a few jewelry items. The owl on the left is a ring I bought while in Beijing in May 2013, along with the owl earring in the middle. I don't remember where I bought the earring on the right.