These beautiful delicate creatures for some cultures symbolise resurrection and transformation. Many people also see the butterfly as a sign that spirit is present, especially the spirits of loved ones who have passed over. When we consider the immense changes she goes through in her short life she is truly amazing. The Butterfly has four stages in its life cycle, each stage having a different goal. She will begin life as an egg, growing into a caterpillar at which stage she thrives and grows quickly. Next the chrysalis stage where she rests and begins to change and finally the fourth stage where she emerges as an adult – Butterfly. The Butterfly will accept all of these changes and embrace them. We can learn valuable lessons from her.
Look at your own life and the different stages that you have gone through. Do you need to look to the next stage and stop looking back? Maintaining positivity through even the challenging stages. Consider if there are outer and inner transformations that you need to make. Are you embracing change or hiding in your cocoon?
Are you outgrowing your present stage in life and need to break free and spread your wings?
How we deal with change can often effect the outcome. Keep positive, keep moving forward and learn the lessons that the Butterfly is showing you.
The Lesson of the Butterfly
By Paulo Coelho
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 it. After a long struggle, it appeared to be exhausted and remained absolutely still.
The man decided to help the butterfly and, with a pair of scissors, he cut open the cocoon, thus releasing the butterfly. However, the butterfly’s body was very small and wrinkled and its wings were all crumpled.
The man continued to watch, hoping that, at any moment, the butterfly would open its wings and fly away. Nothing happened; in fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its brief life dragging around its shrunken body and shrivelled wings, incapable of flight.
What the man – out of kindness and his eagerness to help – had failed to understand was that the tight cocoon and the efforts that the butterfly had to make in order to squeeze out of that tiny hole were Nature’s way of training the butterfly and of strengthening its wings.
Sometimes, a little extra effort is precisely what prepares us for the next obstacle to be faced. Anyone who refuses to make that effort, or gets the wrong sort of help, is left unprepared to fight the next battle and never manages to fly off to their destiny.
(Adapted from a story sent in by Sonaira D’Avila)
