Life lessons from butterflies
I'm sometimes struck by the wisdom little children have.
I had a moment like that the other day when my toddler came home and told me about the story of a little caterpillar and its journey to becoming a butterfly.
As I listened with intent, I realized the depth of the lesson we all have to learn from these little creatures.
Yes, there's beauty in the fact that caterpillars can become beautiful and adorn our world with gorgeous colors...
But thats not the part I'm talking about-
What I took from the story, while listening to each detail, was the necessity of the time the caterpillar took to be in its cocoon.
How it cannot change overnight to becoming this unique butterfly. It needs to slow build the cocoon, and ever so patiently wait until its body fully changes, one small change at a time, developing its wings, changing the entire form of who it is and how it will function in the world, going forward.
Butterflies don't go back to being caterpillars so this is a big transition or them.
Letting go.
A good transition, yes.
A big and maybe scary change? Totally!
Imagine some of their old friends are still caterpillars, and they are leaving them behind. Imagine going from seeing things up close and on the ground to suddenly flying and being faced with a whole different way of navigating what they meet.
Trusting in something new.
The lessons I've taken for myself as a humble human is that as much as we are a fast paced society, with people who want instant results, nothing happens overnight. No change that we work towards is easy, overnight and just smooth sailing.
Sometimes we set a goal, a vision, a hope and we think that 1,2,3 we will get there. How frustrating can that be?
What if we gave ourselves permission to fully develop, to be in our "cocoon" for the amount of time that we need in order to blossom and slowly change, one tiny step at a time?
The ironic thing is that the quicker we move, the less we get done.
Slowing down, taking one digestible step at at time gets you WAY farther, and in a way more efficient manner!
When setting goals and hopes for change, we need to be cognizant about what it is we are wanting to change, what we are hoping to shift, and where we're looking to create transformation.
Part of that is the ability to say NO, to notice and step away from old habits, and slowly learn new ways of behaving.
We may also need to distance ourselves from some people who have limiting beliefs, are negative or overall don't contribute to our wellbeing.
There's a joy in joining the clan of "those with wings". It's exciting. It's also new and with that, scary. It takes time to strengthen the wings, to try them and out trust that they will keep us flying high, and get us to where we need to be.
And, it's worth it.
Change comes with colorful emotions, it can be scary and unknown. As well, it offers new possibilities and refreshing views. Of yourself. Of others. Of the world.
Cheers and blessings to making clear choices about change, allowing ourselves the time in our "cocoons" that we need, and letting those new wings strengthen. Here's to that new set of wings!
Go wear em :)