Thoughts are like bees and butterflies. Both of them come and go. Both of them are a part of nature. Both of them provide a purpose to the ecosystem they navigate.
Although, both of them are perceived and wildly interpreted in different ways - just as our thoughts are.
Stand back and watch as others become mesmerized by the delicate nature of a butterfly. Observe how gentle others approach a butterfly and extend their hand offering a place for the butterfly to land. Watch as others get lost in the swarm of butterflies as they float about.
Contrast that with how others often interact with a bee. You might observe a stiff frame, an alertness, eyes scanning around and tracking the flight path of the bee. Furthermore, depending on the curiosity of the bee, you may observe others swatting at the bee, moving about, trying to avoid, or even trying to kill the bee.
Our thoughts are similar to bees and butterflies.
We offer a gentle and welcome hand to the thoughts that mesmerize us. We lean in to the thoughts that support, validate, and encourage our way of thinking.
We are relaxed, contemplative, open, gentle, and feel safe. We find ourselves seeking a swarm of those beautiful thoughts just as if we were surrounded by the wonderment of butterflies.
Whereas the thoughts that buzz in our minds like bees pester us to a degree that we can’t get away from them. They disrupt us. They follow us and even keep pace when we try to get away. They have an elusive ability to find us when we are trying to hide and avoid them. They sneak in to the places of our mind that we didn’t expect them to.
We become vigilant, annoyed, hyper-focused, and unable to see beyond the bee and it’s buzz…
Coincidentally, bees and butterflies behave in a similar way. They eventually move on. They lose their interest in us and seek out other places to explore.
Likewise, we lose our interest in them. Both the buzz and the beauty lose their impact on us.
We identify other concerns or threats that alert us to focus our thoughts elsewhere. In addition, even the beauty becomes dull and we seek that next shiny new artifact elsewhere…
As you contemplate your passing thoughts, observe how you interpret each one.
Is it a butterfly and you find yourself embracing it or is it a bee and you become focused on avoiding it.
Remembering, originally, a butterfly wasn’t as beautiful as it appears before it came out of its cocoon. You were not as enamored with the odd looking object surrounded in its web. It took you time to
realize the beauty of what it might “become.”
And, don’t forget, a bee buzzes about not to attack you, rather acting on its curiosity as an agent of change transferring pollen to sustain others to give life and cultivating honey to add sweetness to
the world we live within.
Either way, remind yourself, they both come and go as well as how you interpret them in the moment may be an example of the limitations you are placing on their existence.
Which means, take pause, wonder for a moment - How do you interpret your thoughts?
Bees or Butterflies…..