Evolution can not be rushed.
I’m dedicating this post to one of my subscribers following an email dialogue I had late this week. It reminded me about the importance of timing and personal responsibility and accountability for our our own personal development journey.
Before I was really ready to change my life I know I read countless self improvement resources and books but the messages were just not as poignant. They didn’t hit me in the same way because I wasn’t looking for them.
I wasn’t ready to transform my existence .
Everything changes when we change.
When we begin to see with new eyes we notice the world around us differently precisely because we’ve changed on the inside.
So there’s a motto here, never under estimate your own ability to transform yourself and never over estimate your ability to transform others. But don’t always try to force the change because it will only happen when you’re ready.
The Student always open the door and then the teacher appears.
Here is a wonderful story by the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis that sums up the importance of letting nature take its course. Interestingly the word butterfly in Greek actually means psyche or soul and I believe he is using this as a metaphor to talk about the transformation and healing the soul and that we all have greatness within us and a soul purpose but we must first begin the process of wanting to find our own true natures which is often born out of painful experiences .
The Butterfly
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours.
It struggled to force its body through that little hole.
Then it seemed to stop making any progress.
It appeared as if it had gotton as far as it could and could go no further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily, but it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings
He continued to watch the butterfly.
He expected that at any moment, the wings would enlarge and the body would contract.
Neither happened. In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It was never able to fly.
The man acted with well-intentioned kindness but he didn’t understand the consequences.
The restricting cocoon and the struggle required to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly once it achieved it’s freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
If nature allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as we could have been and we could never fly
Have a great day, a great life and struggle a little, then fly!
Nikos Kazantzakis
