Maria Bertrand: How Rescuing a Baby Sparrow Changed My Life Forever

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28:02Yeah. There were some studies done throughout the decades, but it wasn't until I think the 19 gosh when was it it was like 1973 where there was a noble prize the those three um oh my gosh i can't remember their names there were three scientists together who studied animals but they studied the dance of the honeybees um and they won a nobel prize in physiology and medicine but for their work with animals and the behavior and cognizance of animals so that it started then to really kind of move the needle a little bit but it took till we we came into neuroscience to really figure out or trust that they have sentience, which is crazy.

28:44Darin Olien:Wow. And that's the thing. It's like, and in the face of it, only years later, getting into, I mean, jumping forward a little bit, your connection with happy, your, you know, like describe, and then we can also go back and then go forward again. But like describe your relationship if you were to try to describe it. Like because, you know, Happy's landing on your shoulder. Like you guys are clearly this connected family. Yeah. Happy is – I mean he's just like – the best way I can describe it for someone who hasn't had an experience with a sparrow, which is probably the majority of planning is he's like a tiny flying puppy, literally like a tiny flying puppy.

29:41I mean, he comes for treats. He loves his wormy worms. He loves banana. He loves blueberries. And as I was noticing that he loves all these things, his favorite things, I started developing a way to communicate with him because I want to better understand him. I don't I don't have any interest in teaching him tricks or having him do things for me but I have a major interest in understanding him better and communicating with him so I wanted to figure out a way to communicate so I mean he comes when I call him he knows his name he knows when my car pulls in he he chirps by the window um he he'll tap my mouth when he hears a word of something that he wants.

30:22So I'll hold him up near my mouth and he'll tap my mouth. And the reason why that was the method of communication that I chose to develop with him is because that's what he does naturally. So he naturally would tap my mouth when he was hungry, when he was a baby, because he very quickly understood that that's where I eat. And so he, oh yeah, he's there. There is so much more going on. The thing is, if we're not listening, then we're missing the mark. We're missing all that communication. And I think that's what's happening on the planet overall. We're not listening. Whereas the entire planet is communicating with us.

30:59And so happy is just this one little being that is in my face, literally, and showing me that and how much communication there is going on with the natural world and the beings outside and inside. I, I, that is so, it's so phenomenal.

31:20Darin Olien:Like I can't even understand, I can't get my head around that. I can and I can at the same time, like my heart says, of course. Yeah. And then my brain says, wow like it's it's it's it's a mind-blowing thing but at the same time think of happy in terms of a wild animal the instincts the observation the receiving feedback in its environment to survive yep right so it's picking up on all of your clues and cues and therefore you're more and more around happy picking up on on his cues and and and clues really of how to communicate and by your observing and he observing then you figure out this lane that transcends what's that what's that uh uh what's that documentary on the octopus octopus Yeah, I mean, it's like, come on.

32:36And I think like what you just said, I mean, the human affliction is so widespread in terms of we think we know

32:51Darin Olien:what's going on. And we think we make decisions based on, you know, this arrogant, this is what I want. This is what we should do. But like not the broad stroke of listening to the environment to us. Yes. Like what is Mother Earth saying? What are all the creatures saying? What are the plants saying? What is the ocean saying? What is the moon? What is the sun? What is the feedback that we have just cut off completely from our environment? And what would life be like if we didn't do that? And if we, you know, you said it before, like our indigenous ancestors had that relationship. Yeah. That's how they rolled, right?

33:46It's how they, it's, and that's the thing. Like there's no part of me ever since I'm a child. my mom said I came out of the womb different. There is no part of me since I'm a child that ever for one second thought that the world and animals were not communicating with us. Not for one second. There's never been a point in my life and nobody can ever convince me otherwise. Like I've always been, it's a knowing that I have had since I was born and it just is. So that probably facilitated my communication with happy. And the other really fascinating thing, because I had him when he was so little and his little tiny chirps for food that alert the mom, you know, or he, every time I would go near his, his little box, he would feel me and he'd start these little chirps.

34:29I can hear baby birds in a nest when I go for a walk and I'll be walking with friends. They'll be like, Oh, do you hear that? They're like, what? They do not hear anything. And it's crazy. And that to me, I hear it clear as day. And there were, there are nests out here in the parking area of my building and some of the nests were falling. So I put cardboard to make sure that the nests would stay up. So I know where the nests are out there. And I always would hear if I'm like sitting by the pool, I could hear the baby birds chirping. And I was talking to a neighbor and I said, do you hear that?

34:59He was like, no, I don't hear anything. What is it? And I'm like, oh, come here. And I walked him around there and the baby birds are, and he's like, I'm like, do you hear it? He's like, no, I don't hear it. The mom chirped. He's like, oh, I heard that. So he's tuned to the frequency of the adult birds and he was not tuned at all to the frequency of the baby birds. And I think the listening part comes with tuning into the frequency and we're just completely out of tune with the frequency. And so we can't hear, we can't, we literally aren't hearing what's being said. And that's our, to our massive detriment.

35:34Darin Olien:Yeah, not to open up Pandora's box any further, but not only are we not listening to our outer environment in the trillions of bits of information that's coming to us, but we're not listening to each other as human to human. And like, what would that be like if we actually listened to that? So it's like, I think of like your surrender came by way of being a mom to this baby sparrow. and your senses heightened and your desire created the heightened like you wanted to understand and you seek to understand so therefore the the the the opportunity the space opens up the curiosity opens up the i don't know so therefore i receive and and that's that's the that's the space and the gap that gets to be there so that you can then figure out the communication.

36:56Darin Olien:Do you ever, that reminds me, I met this guy before he passed away. His name, you ever hear of a guy named Dr. Patrick Flanagan? Oh, I know the name. Yeah, he was in his 80s and he passed away maybe a decade ago. but I met him in some random room in Santa Cruz, California with a bunch of other guys. Another guy was a remote viewer who created the remote viewing for the military. And Patrick Flanagan was, he developed two-way communication between dolphins with the U.S. Navy. And he then, so they were literally communicating. So there was a language being created, but then he ended up stepping away because he didn't like some of the treatment modalities, how they were treating.

37:52Darin Olien:So this is there. If, again, we're willing, like, God dang, if we took an animal and listened, what wisdom could we gain? you know and connection and love and all of that obvious stuff too yeah and that's the thing it it enhances our empathy so those those three scientists who did that study and won the nobel prize in physiology and medicine it's like yeah they're amazing they they did these studies just as scientists observing animal behavior and what they all said afterwards was how much more empathy how much more understanding they have of the animals that they were. I think that Carl Vaughn something who he was studying imprinting.

38:43And so he, he imprint, he let baby geese imprints on him. And he just said, it was incredible how much there is there, how much, how much they know, how much they, you know, it's once we let ourselves just connect, it's incredible what happens from there. I mean, and that connection and those things, the amount of joy and happiness that all of that brings to us as individuals. I mean, it's incredible. So yeah, I don't know why we're not doing it more.

39:14Darin Olien:Well, it's like we've decided in certain areas, we decide with dogs, you know, we decide like, and of course, you know, some of the greatest, but it's like, it's not just limited to a species, right? It's all species. It is. And that's where it gets. We compartmentalize kindness for sure.

39:38Darin Olien:Yeah, it's so amazing. Yeah. So then, you know, after you get happy back, like, so talk about that. So that moment where you were like, oh, we may have to put Happy down. Yeah. Then what happened? Like, talk us through that moment. It was, we're going to have to euthanize him, dot, dot, dot, unless someone wants to adopt him. And I was like, I'll be there in 20 minutes. Right. I didn't even think twice. I was like, and I'm there. And I was there in 20 minutes. And I just, I picked him up and he had his little fluffy gray baby feathers and he just looked up at me and, and we never looked back. We never looked back.

40:31And that little dude, I mean, from the moment I got him back, wanted so much to connect with me. And to, the thing is he wanted to understand me. he desperately wanted to understand me and to connect with me and they're flock animals so for him i i'm his flock to this day i am his everything and so it's so amazing like to think that he wouldn't want to connect with me would be that's crazy that's crazy to me right and yet a lot of times we walk around thinking the world around us isn't wanting to connect with us but we are all one. Our indigenous ancestors knew this. We are all one. So the world wants to connect with us.

41:17So happy just everything I did. I mean, we played fetch. He would all the things. He just wanted to do what I wanted to show him. Now, did I have to have a lot of patience? Yeah. But I mean, what greater joy? Right.

41:35Darin Olien:Well, it was also like, you know, this manufactured situation it's during the pandemic it's like you kind of had each other uh in this in a room strange situation and like what a gift what a gift what an unbelievably miraculous gift to be I had literally let go I was like I'm done I'm tapping out I I I don't have anything left. Like it, I was just destroyed inside and to have the universe just open up. I, I, I don't even know. I think about it and I go, I just, I don't know how that, how that happened. It's just, it's an incredible thing to have happen at your absolute lowest. And I know I'm not alone.

42:29I know there's so many people who've had these magical experiences when they're just at their absolute lowest and crumbling. And, um, you know, Happy's gift in that moment to me was just to allow me to drop in the present moment. Anytime I heard him want food in the present moment, my breathing slowed. I was just feeding him. I was keeping my hands steady. I was just, and, and every time we did that, it was another moment of presence, another moment of presence. And to give another being the gift of the present moment is the greatest gift we can give another being that is, oh my gosh. So he's given me the greatest gift.

43:05Any being can give another being. And I, yeah.

43:08Darin Olien:How is that? How is, I mean, there's, it's probably endless gifts that it's how, how else do you think that that has translated now into your life, the connection that you have with him, how has that shown up and expressed itself or, or gave you feedback in the rest of your life and the world that you now see? Yeah, well, it's definitely, it's easier for me to get to that place. And because I know the feeling of being super anxious and then being able to kind of fall into the present. So it's given me that gift of just, oh right right that's available to me that's there even at my darkest moments that's available to me i can just go there because it's it's my brain it's just it's just flipping a switch okay everybody are you ready to upgrade your operating system i know i am i'm always game to do that not just physically but mentally emotionally and spiritually that's what we're doing over at super life patreon this isn't just behind the scenes membership it's a global experiment in conscious living that i am connected to committed with in every cell of my body each week you'll get exclusive access to deeper podcast conversations extended interviews voice notes from the road of me personally personal reflections behind the scenes footage community wellness challenges and even some surprise drop-ins that I no longer do on social media because I don't really dig it anymore.

44:57Darin Olien:We're talking decentralized healing, reclaiming sovereignty, ancient wisdom meets future tech, and a tribe of people with you walking the path. If you love this podcast, The Patreon is where we go deeper, get more real, and reclaim our power together. Join us at patreon.com forward slash Darren Olean. That's patreon, P-A-T-R-E-O-N dot com forward slash Darren Olean, D-A-R-I-N-O-L-I-E-N. Join the movement, support the mission, let's rise together. Which is such a big thing between that and also being able to share him with people, his story, his sharing the laughter, the joy, even I mean, social media for what it is, it can be a place of just a lot of just weirdness and maybe not so great stuff.

45:54but it can also be a place of connection and sharing really beautiful things with people around the world. I mean, the messages I was getting during COVID when I was at my absolute lowest from just sharing my daily dose of happy online with people, I was getting messages from around the world that were, they would literally break my heart and put it back together all in like two sentences. It was like, I'm going through chemo. I can't see my family and happy made me smile today i'd be like like you know from the netherlands like just it was mind-blowing the amount of just purpose and joy and presence um that he brought into my life at that horrendously dark time and continues to bring in my life daily it's just he's this magical little flying being but it's wild and teaches me daily.

46:47Like he communicates with the birds outside. I now speak sparrow, which is kind of hilarious, but I know exactly when the hawk is outside and I run out there and I chase him. I, I, I know they're, yeah. I know when the hawk is coming or not too close. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

47:07Darin Olien:Wow. That's, that's, you know, I, it reminds me of like, cause I'm out, I'm out, you know, I'm still rebuilding and I've got my yurt, right. And all of these places around where the, where the, the initial yurt has these folded windows and I put real windows in. So I, so I rolled up the other ones and they're around the entire place and inside has been generations of bird's nest like literal generations and they they sing around my place the entire time and i'm like of course i don't know what they're saying but it is it is like an orchestra especially in the springtime and and also like when i observe all of the ground squirrels and every it seems like every two years a hawk is born in the mountains just outside of my door and and the communication like you do start picking up on like i know exactly the warning signs the signal the things i know i know levels of how my dog reacts based on what's out there is that that's a sound that's a smaller creature that's definitely a sound there's something bigger like it is it is full on right and the fact that i just like love that that happy's communicating to the to the birds outside yeah and and so from there and you're sharing this with people and getting all of this amazing feedback yeah and then and And then there was this moment where you decided, I'm taking this to a whole nother level.

48:54Darin Olien:Describe to me the moment where and like what occurred for you when you said, I want to film this and I also want to gather others. Tell me about that. So you know what's interesting about that is I was really happy. I was enjoying my space with Happy, my time with Happy. But because the world was so shut down, I was kind of really removed from what I, my whole passion and purpose that I'd been doing for years. I didn't even think of like, oh, I can actually take this to another level. It took another human to come to me and be like, hey, and this human, this magical human, his name is Jim Greenbaum.

49:37He's an executive producer on Cowspiracy, Seaspiracy, Game Changers. and yeah I know Jim's amazing a champion for the animals and the environment for sure and uh he came to me in October of 2020 and he said I would love to produce a movie about you and happy when I went I like oh right right I'm a storyteller I it's like I forgot who I was because we were so shut in you know it was and and all I wanted to do was spread this joy because it made it was making me feel better so I was like let me just on socials I can like just spread this out but I my my blinders were on now because we were isolated and we were you know so Jim came in and said this to me and I was like oh my goodness oh my goodness and like I'm a biology background I love animals a little bit of a nerd so my first reaction was I really want to get Carl Safina to interview him on this documentary and I don't know if you know who Carl Safina is I don't.

50:38He was just interviewed by Oprah. He's really lovely. He's a teacher ecologist, but he has the Safina Center in New York. And he did an amazing TED Talk on the sentience of animals.

50:50Darin Olien:Oh, amazing. Sylvia Earle has quoted his TED Talk. Like he's amazing. And so I reached out to, after Jim sat me down and said, I'd like to do this. I was like, oh, it relit that spark that had gone out. You know, sometimes it takes another human to come up and be like, hey, like let me give you a little helping hand here and um i messaged carl safina and asked him if he would be in the documentary that he was the first person i messaged and he said yes and i was off to the races because that got me so excited as the nerdy like right and um and carl says throughout my documentary he has such poignant things to say i need to post the whole interview at some point because he's just this plethora of amazing information and connection.

51:37And one of the things he says in my documentary that I think is phenomenal, he says the world is so much more complex than humans can understand. And he goes on to say, I always tell my students that the power of an education is not in knowledge. It's in learning what you don't know. And I'm like, oh, like, come on.

52:02Darin Olien:It summarizes the whole thing of what we're talking about. Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful. You couldn't possibly understand what a sparrow needs, what a sparrow communicates without deeply, you know, in a normal situation, Are you going to spend hours upon hours listening to sparrows outside of your window trying to figure out what they are saying? Unfortunately, no. But if we didn't have walls, if we didn't have the modern world, which is nothing in the existence of our hundreds of thousands of years existence where we were actually listening to everything around. Um, but like this blessing of, you know, it's so weird.

52:54Darin Olien:We've, we've, we've created a world of disconnection only to discover that that's literally killing us. Um, to realize that connection is everything, connection to each other. Like we know that for longevity and happiness, the, the, there's not even a close second to, uh, For us to be happy and have longevity and feel good, it's literally connection. And dare I say, we think of, as I say that, we think of connection as just to other people. Right. But there's a much bigger, broader thing. Like what if we could listen to the ocean? What if we could listen to the plants, to the trees, to the mycelium?

53:50Darin Olien:Like, what is it communicating? What would the other animals say? And that's like, that's an exciting... Oh, here we go. Oh, my God. So anyone who's not seeing the video, Happy just showed up and is... just wanted to say hi he's like now that you're talking about connection i'm gonna come right now front and center yeah i i love that i love that he chose to do that too yeah he chose he chose to come and say hello happy does what happy wants and i and i love it that way he's got the freedom is his own little sovereign being to just definitely is yeah yeah Yeah. And to your point of listening, there's these amazing studies they did on prairie dogs, just watching their behavior.

54:48And they know, I don't know if you know about, did you hear about the studies on prairie dogs? It's very cool because they've deciphered the communication down into the warning calls for predators that they have different calls that tell what speed the predator's coming, what size the predator is, what color the predator is. And it's phenomenal. Yeah. Wow. I'm such a nerd. I love this stuff is like, oh my God. I love this stuff so much.

55:15Darin Olien:This is way beyond nerd. This is probably some of the greatest things that we've neutered. Yes. This is probably instinctually closer to what makes us human as well. Yes. But we've also, you know, put up boxes, shut down the world, controlled our environment so much so, put shoes on, not connected to the ground, got somewhere along the way, got afraid of the sun and elements and all of that stuff. And I think to unlock us in the greatest way is to turn on these ancient, deep, connecting signals that are there. They're dormant, for sure. Yes, they are there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's one of the most important conversations we can be having of our time.

56:17And the world is ready for it. you know thank goodness for neuroscience because we would still be down that path of like oh no animals don't feel and this and that thank goodness neuroscience was like wait a minute we can see that they're feeling and that they're showing emotion and that they're like because somewhere we forgot we we stopped trusting our eyes our and our internal anything internal our whole system we stopped trusting it so we need people to like check the brain to be like oh yeah

56:42Darin Olien:oh yeah right we're like yeah we know we can see yeah and like again that the the the biggest thing is just you know animal agriculture and all of this other shit that we that's a whole nother thing where we just go we just we just want food like huh like well yes yeah and that all started with i i do think that goes back to renee descartes saying they're they're automata they're their biological machines and then we just went they don't feel anything so and they and then greed and all that came into play and here we are here we are today yeah and you know you can make the argument for anyone wants to watch another documentary after this chrispiracy right so yes which is another a whole other can of worms darren yeah which is now we're back to worms Yeah, yeah.

57:38Darin Olien:Now we're back to worms. So your series or your documentary, so you're like, oh, now you've turned on this dormant part of you. It's just with this nice little nudge. now all of a sudden you're like wow okay i now you you said before like okay i'm doing this other stuff but it's not quite aligned with my full passion and now all of a sudden your skills your talents now you get to actually drive it into and cultivate like one of the greatest loves of your life through, you know, happy. And then, and so talk to me about how this then expanded to other people and to other animals and other interactions people are having.

58:34Yeah. Um, so it expanded, I, you know, I was saying to Jim that I don't think anyone's going to watch a full length documentary about me and a sparrow in a bedroom. So let me, let me think of how this can, I can shape this into a story and take people on a journey. Cause that's, that's the magic of storytelling, right? We connect, we take each other on a journey. And so, um, let's bring other animals into play. And Jim, Jim is, um, very much part of the, the vegan welfare movement. So I brought some animals, you know, there's a cow in there, there's a chicken in there. And then my friend, Cheryl, that is Cheryl is a friend of mine who I've known for over 15 years and she was having this crazy experience with a goose in Dallas while I was having my experience with Happy.

59:21It was crazy. We were like, what is going on? And so she was my first interview just to see, like, let me see the similarities. Let me see how this could flow. And I was like, oh, this is beautiful because we're getting personal stories. And so it's a unique, it's not just following one storyline and one point, but there's one overall point to the entire story that we lead with, you know, we end with and the are you listening at the end is the very last thing you see before the credits. And so it's, it's, ideally, I would love to do a series and keep doing it. There are so many stories out there.

59:58So that is a goal. But it started just with one interview with Cheryl and me going, okay, I had a list of animals and going, let me see what stories could go together. And we started with Cheryl. I came back home, went through everything and sort of got my bearings. I'm a Virgo. So I was like, let me get my bearings and let me figure, let me figure some things out before I keep going. And, and then the other stories, you know, everyone we reached out to was more than willing to come in and be part of this and and have a magical experience with us um my friend who i asked to help produce the movie kelly king she had worked with lek in thailand with elephants so that's how that came about because i was like i want either a rhino or elephants because i because happy's so small i wanted something big and uh elephants it was and that experience oh my gosh

1:01:00Darin Olien:that explains yeah talk to me a little bit don't you don't have to give it all away but talk to me about that just I just kept saying wow I just I get there and we're all of a sudden and in the middle hands-on touching trunks touching my face with elephants and this little leck little leck who runs the whole show and her name means tiny she's she's tiny and she's just this it's unbelievable what she's done and what she's created and just talk about purpose she started she's like i had money i was just gonna go get one elephant and save one elephant i wanted to save one and she's got this incredible sanctuary with over a hundred elephants she knows all their names it's in thailand it's called elephant nature park she has changed laws in thailand around the ethical treatment of elephants she has changed the mahouts who actually uh who would own elephants and mistreat them, she has flipped the narrative and she hires them to care for the elephants and be their caretakers.

1:02:05And it's just incredible what you can do with passion, purpose, and just just a little bit of help somewhere, you know, just a little bit of help. But if you if you're courageous enough to walk into the forest and go get your first elephant, it's amazing what you can do like that takes courage a little tiny lady to go get an elephant oh we're over here afraid to write our first book or something right right you know when you think of that like that those things being in thailand and seeing that and i mean lech won the legion of honor award for her work with elephants her legion of honor president macron presented her with that award um he's incredible So that was an amazing experience.

1:02:48It was an amazing experience talking to all the guests I interviewed, you know, Dave with Sammy. He drives around the country with a chicken and people get to touch a chicken and pet a chicken and realize, oh, wow, like this is a sentient being who who it's it's amazing what people are doing and how they're sharing and spreading kindness and stuff. So it was a magical experience.

1:03:11Darin Olien:Well, you know, and the great thing is I love like the different examples because it's you could if someone's not open enough, they could easily see this as a one off. Oh, cool. She had this unique thing, this this injured bird, and they just figured out a connection. Cool. And it's so and you could flippantly say it's a one off. Yeah. But in fact, when given the opportunity, the connection is transcendent through species, through different people, different cultures. But if there's an opening, if there's a willingness, and there's a curiosity on both ends, that transcends it all. It's, that's again, it's this neon sign that I see above all of it is that we have cut ourselves off.

1:04:16Darin Olien:And if we're willing to listen, like this, many people, if you really pull the string, you have to question a lot of things. because the society is built on things that are not great. And so if you pull the string that we are all connected and that there is love in every one of these beings and there's this preciousness, then it's like, hey, what could we rewrite here? What could we course correct? how could we course correct um and i don't know about you yeah like that that's a life well spent if if we illuminate this more and and yeah so so like now having kind of matured through the documentary and first off everyone was like where do i see this.

1:05:24Darin Olien:I love that you on demanded on demanded it. Actually. I love that you can just pop it on, stream it right off the website. Is it finding happy.com? Is that what it is or happy? The film.com finding it off the website that will be done at the end of this month, because we are releasing on, we're releasing North. I've signed with a worldwide distributor. So it's currently streaming on Gaia, which is, you know, a smaller consciousness platform, which I loved signing with them first. It really it really tied into everything that the film's about. And then I signed with a worldwide distributor, Vision Films.

1:06:05They have been amazing. And we're doing we're releasing in North America and the UK on September 1st. So that's going to be on iTunes, Amazon, Apple TV, kind of the usual players. super fun, super excited about that. And then we're going to go and see what's happening worldwide and get that going. So yeah.

1:06:27Darin Olien:Amazing. I love that. So catch me and us up on like, what's the day in the life now of you and Happy? So Happy sleeps in a two-story cage in my room. He just sleeps. He has a little pineapple plushie that he sleeps in and uh he wakes up in the morning i wake up early so to see so he wakes up with me and he'll hear me kind of wrestle and then he'll start chirping very softly to make sure i'm awake he'll be like and then when i get up he's like he's very excited and he comes to snuggle with me for a little bit so i open his cage and he comes to snuggle um i close his cage at night because i don't want him flying to me if anything scares him because i could roll over on him and that would be that's not good right so he snuggles with me for a bit then uh you know then I wash my face brush my teeth he's standing on my shoulder my head the entire time whatever it is when I bend down to like brush my teeth he's on my back then I stand up and he climbs up to my head it's hilarious I should record it I should and uh you know I make him fresh quinoa so I make his meals or I like, I make them once every three days.

1:07:44I cook stuff for him. So quinoa couscous, so he gets fresh millets, organic greens. The only thing I go to everyone for, cause it's expensive is his or his sprouts.

1:07:53Darin Olien:Um, well, you got to get some from the sprouting company. Come on. We got to go. I know I should have a sprout. Uh, I'm going to set you up on that from some of the greatest seeds. You'll have your own little sprouting container and happy. you will be happy. I love, yeah, yeah. It's, it's, he's big on sprouts because his beak is messed up. So he can't shell seeds. So I had to, I was like, well, what's the next best thing nutrition wise? Oh, sprouts. I'll just feed him sprouts. So that's, he loves sprouts. Amazing. Yeah. And then, I mean, he does his thing. I work from home a lot. So he's flying, he's landing on my shoulder.

1:08:31He takes naps in my collarbone because he fits in my collarbone or sits on my lap. he flies about it depends on the season sometimes he's molting so he hides a bit more and he's losing his feathers when it's mating season he's fluttering about everywhere and trying to woo me into his nest that we build together it's another thing the whole other thing he's living his life you know like a happy happy little sparrow

1:09:02what a what a what a turn of life like yeah incredible yeah it's it's a turn of life but honestly like me knowing me and I'm still friends with like my childhood friends like I'm still friends with friends whose names are in my baby book as baby's first friends and they're like, oh yeah, of course that would happen to you. Like, it's just, yeah.

1:09:27Darin Olien:It was, it was destined for sure. It was definitely written in the stars and I call happy, moon was my moon and I call happy my stars. So it was definitely written in my stars. Well, I'm, I mean, I am, I am beyond excited for the world to see more and more of happy and to get this message out. I think there is a very, very powerful. I mean, the documentary is beautiful. It's beautifully shot. It's beautiful narration. But I just want to emphasize the messages. There's so many layers of messages beyond just the beautiful film that's embedded within it. And what a wonderful way to share that information because, you know, through joy, through connection, through happy, through your connections together, everyone can get on board with that.

1:10:28Darin Olien:And, you know, sometimes it's hard to see some of the underbelly of what's going on in the world. But the connection is there if we're willing to have it. And, you know, I think most everyone's probably had a moment where they connected to a wild animal or something occurred. And like, I remember, and I'll end with this in a certain sense, but I remember one of the things that bugs me is windows and birds that fly into windows. And I had a hummingbird fly into the window a few years ago. And I was like, oh, I just hate walking out because I know because I can tell by the sound how hard they hit.

1:11:22Darin Olien:And I went out one day and after one hit and it was a tiny hummingbird. And I'm not even joking. I was like, he looked dead. So I picked him up and I prayed. I just covered and I prayed and I just gave everything selfishly as I could and created a safe little space. And sure enough, within 30 seconds, the little hummingbird shook off, sat there for a moment, collected himself, and then took off. It was like it felt like a miracle. It felt like – what was that movie, Tom Hanks movie? What was that? The big black dude, the walking – dead man walking. Remember that one? He had this special ability to bring little things back to life.

1:12:24Darin Olien:Anyway, it felt like whatever – if it was dead or not dead, whatever. It felt like it to me. But I was like, I took that moment to give love to this little creature and he came alive and flew away. And, you know, those moments, you know, I'm thinking that and it brings that memory back. And those are the things I think we all have. Just make sure kids keep that. So because the movie is like it's a feature film and little kids won't watch it. I have a kid's book. It's called Finding Happy the Sparrow and it's on Amazon and stuff. And I've spoken at schools in front of like 500 children because it talks about grief, about losing a pet and then about finding your happiness again through befriending another animal and through being kind.

1:13:16So if little itty bitties want to read, you know, a little connection to nature or whatnot.

1:13:22Darin Olien:Oh, that's fantastic. And I think that's a very important thing. Grief. Right. That grief. I remember the first time I lost our pet cat. It was the first time I experienced death and understanding the life and death of those things. Beautiful, beautiful. People can check that out too. Maria, what a gift. What a gift you are. What a gift Happy is. And what a gift that you've taken all of that and you now shared the gift in such a bigger way to more and more people. And that's something that we all can get behind and celebrate. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. What a gift I was given. Yeah. And thank you so much for having me on.

1:14:12I was so excited. And I haven't seen you in forever. My gosh. I don't know how that's happened.

1:14:18Darin Olien:I haven't seen you forever. oh my gosh i would like to come for tea and and your yurt and see all the wildlife outside yeah you can tell me what they're saying because yes i can see if there's sparrows there i got you i will let you know there's a lot of communication let's put it that way i love it i love it cool well thank you so much i appreciate you appreciate you