🌼 Geese Wisdom and Date Days: Finding What Really Matters
Welcome to this Start Fresh mini from the Om WOW Podcast! Let’s reset our mindset and start the week with clarity and intention.
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Episode #16: Transcript
My husband took me to one of my favorite places this week, Kimball Farm in New Hampshire. It's an open farm where you can enter the large pastures where many of the animals are allowed to roam freely.
Now we are usually the only ones there without kids because I'm the big kid who loves interacting with the animals, especially the goats.
I think this is the first visit that I was able to feed a baby cow. Usually there's a long line of children waiting to do this. But, we got there earlier in the day, so I got my chance.
And he was adorable! He did give me some milk kisses on my hand though, and my jacket. So it was a dirty visit, you know?
I always enjoy feeding the goats, the sheep and the llama. This farm also has free range chickens, other birds, as well as ducks and geese.
The Hawk Question
I asked one of the farm hands if they have a problem with hawks trying to get their chickens. At our house we have some chickens, but we have to keep our eye on them. We have a lot of hawks and other large birds flying over and frequently trying to get the natural birds that are just hanging out in our yard.
He said, Nope. Wasn't really a problem there, which was super surprising to me because of all the open space bordered by a thick forest of trees.
The Geese's Warning System
Later in our visit after leaving the bunny maternity ward (yes, that's a thing) we heard the geese in one pen start shrieking. And then the next pen joined in.
I looked up in the sky and saw an eagle circling and realized the geese were sending out the important warning call of danger to all the other small animals like the chickens and the ducks. I chatted about this with the farm hand.
Isn't it cool how one animal will alert others of danger? I just find this fascinating. And if I hadn't looked up at the sky, I wouldn't have realized the geese were spreading a warning, not being noisy and obnoxious.
The Noisy Bird in the Goat Pen
Contrast this with our experience at the baby goat pen when we first arrived at the farm. There were some birds I didn't recognize in with the baby goats. They looked similar to a chicken, but they were something else. They were black and white with lots of red on the top of their heads.
Anyway. two of these birds hopped the fence and were walking freely on the main lawn. One bird, for whatever reason, stayed in the pen with the baby goats, seemingly freaking out with a loud siren like, call, not danger, not "I need help," or at least it didn't seem that way.
It just seemed like noise. And we made a mental note. Do not get that breed ever on our own little farm. My husband was like, "Dude, your friends are right there. Jump the fence and join them."
Signal vs. Noise
These were similar animals, the geese and these birds. And they both made loud noises, but my reaction to them was so different. The spotted bird was an irritation, noise without much purpose. I imagine he was saying, "oh no, woes me. My friends disappeared, and now I'm all alone and I don't know what to do."
Even though he appeared to be the same size and age as the others, and we didn't see any physical issues that would prevent him from following his friends.
Maybe it was fear like, "Waaah! I'm comfy here. There's plenty of goat food on the ground. I don't wanna see what's over there, where my friends are going. Come back, come back, come back where it's comfy and let's just chill!"
But the geese worked together, each sending an alarm that spread almost instantly from bird to bird and pen to pen, until they effectively protected all the farm animals. How awesome is that? And I totally would've missed seeing that beautiful eagle if they hadn't captured my attention and made me look up at the sky.
What Are You Putting Out Into the World?
What about you? Are you saying and hearing what's important or just noise? Is the information, communication and energy you put out into the world helpful to others or merely self-serving?
What information are you taking into your life that's simply just noise? For me, it's mindless TV shows at night or getting sucked into a social media scroll session. What's truly just noise for you?
What are you taking in that isn't adding positively to your life? Gossip and celebrity obsessions could be other examples of pure noise without benefit.
Spontaneous Date Day
On another note, my husband and I turned this plain-Jane Wednesday into a spontaneous date day, something we haven't done much this year 'cause this year has been nuts.
But my recent guest, Heather Melville, recently reminded me the importance of this. She makes time for date night once a month like clockwork to keep her relationship strong. If you missed that conversation, go back and listen to episode 15.
So we ended up wrapping a bunch of summer activities, you know things that we love to do, into one day visiting the farm, playing mini golf at a new course and exploring a new ice cream stand, which was delicious. And we ended the day with a fire in the backyard fire pit.
Nurturing Your Relationships
To piggyback off what Heather shared about healthy relationships, I wonder what you could purposefully do this week to nurture your own relationships? Whether that's with a partner, a family member, or a friend.
As you head into this week, I challenge you to purposefully plan some connection to strengthen your relationships, which could mean foregoing the TV show for a conversation or simply texting someone who's been on your mind.
Have a fabulous week, my friends.
Meet Our Host: Jennifer Robin O’Keefe
Jennifer Robin is always searching for the next thing that might help: the book, the practice, the reframe you didn't know existed but turns out to be exactly what you needed.
Through conversations with experts, authors, and everyday humans, along with personal reflection, Jennifer focuses on bridging the gap between "woo" and practical, accessible self-support. Her work is rooted in the belief that wellness is not about fixing yourself, but about remembering your worth and finding what genuinely works for you.
She has spent decades exploring personal growth, energy healing, and mind-body wellness. She's trained in EFT Tapping and coaching, tools she often references in her conversations. She's not positioning herself as an expert who has it all figured out. She approaches her work with humility, curiosity, and deep respect for individual experience.
Jennifer is a lifelong learner who cherishes books and notebooks. She loves diving into research and sharing what she learns in a way that feels relatable, compassionate, and pressure-free. These conversations are an invitation: to ask your own questions, gather perspectives that resonate, and build a life that actually feels good to you.
