Have you ever noticed animals coming into your path and intuitively felt there was something profound they were sharing with you in that moment? Have you ever taken the time to listen to what they were telling you, or do you brush it off as an everyday mundane life experience?
A few days ago I was walking with our 4 year old son on our way to one of my favorite parks in Brooklyn, Sunset Park. As we neared the block to the park our observant son yells out in excitement “Mom, Look what I found!” It was the biggest, brightest green caterpillar I had ever seen! (I’m a Brooklyn girl, and all the caterpillars I’ve seen have all been small fuzzy ones!) So to avoid the possibility of this gorgeous cool creature being stepped on, I decided to scoop it up and carry it to the park. We found the perfect tree to let it make it’s ascension to the next stage of it’s life, as adults and children all crowded around to watch in awe!
Now I am a person who does not for a second believe in coincidences. I firmly believe that beauty and miracles abound all around us, and we simply just have to switch our awareness and perception and be willing to see “average” things in a new way. So with a gentle eagerness, I decided to look deeper into what this creature of profound transformation could be representing and mirroring to me in my life. I was humbled by the information I received.
Caterpillars obviously are the epitome of transformation and complete and total surrender to change and growth. Allowing themselves to be completely guided by the internal will to evolve and become something grander than it could possibly imagine.
Being a spiritual being having a human experience and dealing daily with the presence of the ego, there are times where I beat myself up with thoughts of where I think I should be by witnessing where I perceive myself to be.
The theme for a few months in my life has been surrender. Surrendering to even the very thought of having to surrender! By training myself moment to moment day by day in practicing the inner feeling of profound peace we ALL have within us. Some days it’s harder than others when I let my mind do all the work on it’s own. But it does get easier and easier to become aware and remind myself I can always come back to this peaceful place within.
“We don't have to suffer, and there is always this choice that is ours for the choosing.”
The caterpillar comforted me in trusting that it's okay to move at my own pace on my journey and that judging myself for not being where I think I should be is just wasted energy and completely unnecessary! It brought me back to knowing that each step no matter how small we may think the step is,is always supported greatly by the universe even if we can't see it in the moment.
“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.”
-Buckminster Fuller
What I received also from this bright green messenger was that we all have this willingness to evolve and expand and become more than we are allowing ourselves to be. A unique inner whisper and sometimes a gentle shout that encompasses our whole being and pulls us forward to become it!
Be courageous and go within to listen to this always loving voice. Let it wrap us in a cocoon of security and complete trust, as we surrender our resistance to be our Great selves, and to emerge into our full expression!
“How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to let go of being a caterpillar.”
-Trina Paulus
I will leave you with this bit of wisdom from Marianne Williamson. She says: “if you feel like you're wasting your potential, then you are.”
-Stephanie
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