The 12 great lessons from Jonathan Livingston Seagull

In the first few days of January 2022, I asked my friends on Instagram to tell me about the best books they've read and Chris Spring (currently the School Head of Surefoot International School, Calabar) recommended that I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach. I went ahead to check out all of their recommendations and I created a book map for myself. It's simply a visual representation of books I want to read within a specific period.

Either way, I went on to get the audio version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull from Audible, and I was blown away by the audio narration, the sound of the sea, of waves, air, the melody, etc.! I listened over and over to specific portions and truly, I recommend this as a great read to anyone wanting to explore life despite others being afraid or limiting them.

What is Jonathan Livingston Seagull all about?

This short book is about a seagull named Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who wanted more for his life, went after the more he found, was banished for being an outlier, yet he learned to perfect his skills, to love and show kindness. Within the seagull community, seagulls lived a very bland life, only living to feed off fish from boats and the likes. However, Jonathan discovered there was more to life than surviving. He found new ways to fly at different speeds and ever so graciously. But with this newfound feat, the elders of the seagull community thought him a disgrace, thus banished him, as no seagull was ever expected to do what Jonathan did. However, he kept learning, he transcended to another realm, and asides from improving his flight skills he also had to learn to love others, to forgive and show kindness.

This led Jonathan to go back to his former seagull community where he was banished from. However, Jonathan became an influence in the community and showed other seagulls the "more" there was to life. Before he died, he wanted to be remembered as a normal seagull, not a god. That didn't work because after his death, he was eulogized and remembered as a god. A cult/new religion was fashioned after him.

I love this story so much as it's like an analogy of our present-day life. We want things so badly, we want to improve the way of life not just for ourselves but for others too, and yet, people try to stop us. They don't believe in us and they call us crazy.

Here are 12 great thoughts and lessons I caught from reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull

1. You should never be afraid to learn, you never know what more you'll discover.
2. Open your mind, be curious; stay curious. Ask questions.
3. Although Jonathan was awesome, he wasn't immune to self-doubt and sad moments. Even the best of the best have anxious moments but still move forward.
4. He sought to teach others and share what he knew even when others were against him and he was considered an outcast by his very own 'gull community. He showed forgiveness, and with forgiveness, we let off massive weights of hatred from us that may not let us move forward.
5. If you want to succeed, to do something you find impossible or difficult, the trick is to know that you have already arrived or achieved it.
6. Have a limitless mindest and be teachable.
7. Learn to love and show kindness. Learn it. It gets difficult to show love after we have gone through so much hardship, but you can always learn and learn again how to show love.
8. Do not let the words of others get to you.
9. Never let the accolades get to your head either. Jonathan accepted the praises other seagulls gave to him but only for a minute. Then he moved on and continued to practice.
10. He believed so much in practice making perfect.
11. Jonathan didn't want to be eulogized as a god but instead wanted others to know he was an ordinary gull who made things happen, giving them hope that they too could make things happen and find more meaning and freedom in their life.
12. When people don't understand you, they either call you a devil or a god. But your duty is to keep showing up and being better than your previous self.