There is a story about a man and a butterfly:
A man spent hours watching a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. It managed to make a small hole, but its body was too large to get through. After a long struggle, it appeared to be tired, and remained absolutely still, seeming to give up.
The man thought he would help the butterfly, and with a pair of scissors, he gently cut open the cocoon, thus releasing the butterfly. However, the butterfly’s body was tiny and shrunken, and its wings were all crinkly and wrinkled.
The man continued to watch, thinking that at any moment the butterfly would unfold its wings and fly away. Nothing happened; in fact, the butterfly spent the remainder of its brief life crawling around with its body emaciated and its wings drooping, incapable of flying.
What the man – out of kindness and his eagerness to help had failed to understand was that the close-fitting cocoon and the efforts the butterfly was forced to make in order to squeeze out of that small hole were Nature’s way of training the butterfly and of strengthening its wings.
8 lessons from the butterfly story:
- We are all butterflies waiting to emerge. The talents and skills dormant in us will likely bloom if given a chance.
- We never know what tomorrow will bring and we can try not to lose hope in ourselves and our process. As much as is possible we can look forward with optimism.
- No stage is permanent. When bad things happen, we can try and remember as Birbal said, “This too shall pass.”
- We must want to fly so much that we are willing to give up life as we know it on the ground (as a caterpillar).
- We can try and remember our struggle is worth it. “Behind every beautiful thing, there is some kind of pain.” (Bob Dylan)
- The journey itself is as important as the destination, and has a beauty all its own.
- Transformation occurs slowly from the inside out and isn’t easy. “The wings of transformation are born of patience and struggle.” (Janet S Dickens)
- “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” (Richard Bach). Even if it feels like our life is going to end, and all hope is lost, it may just be the beginning of another, more beautiful stage of life.
