Meet Anne Baird

Make Like a Mollusk, and GROW! 

A woman emerges from a shell on the beach. Caught up in the bliss of becoming, she spreads her arms like wings and flies. The shell is the legendary chambered nautilus, one of Nature's most incredible *mollusks.

What does the nautilus mean to her?  To us?

Everything! Its life is a metaphor for our soul journeys.

The life of the chambered nautilus demonstrates the transformation and change we all seek. Born as a tiny, single-chambered shell, it steadily expands by adding new, internal chambers to the first in a perfect, concentric spiral. As each fresh cell is completed, the nautilus moves in, seals off the last compartment, and creates an identical, larger dwelling space. Over a 20-year lifespan, it can reach an impressive size.

It travels the ocean by jet propulsion. Squirting water from a funnel at the mouth of its shell, it propels itself backwards, seeking new horizons to support its growing needs. It takes advantage of currents to assist its journey, yet swims against the tide if necessary. When not traveling, it lives on the slopes of coral reefs at depths of up to 800 feet, beyond the reach of predators. It ascends to shallower waters at night to feed. Adjusting the buoyancy of its inner chambers, it rises and sinks - a process adopted by divers and modern submarines.

It's a survivor! The nautilus propelled itself through ancient seas over 500 million years ago, before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Yet it continues to adapt to modern conditions. Its ranks are successfully evolving and expanding from the Indian Ocean to the tropics of the Pacific, while other prehistoric species, unable to adjust, became extinct.

Check out this amazing video made by Sir David Attenborough, a respected British broadcaster and naturalist, on the astonishing life of the peripatetic mollusk.