a butterfly allegory
I was listening to Jim Kwik on Alyson Stoner’s podcast Simplexity on a run the other day and had to write down the story I heard:
A “little boy finds a caterpillar in his back yard and asks his mom to keep it. Mom says yes but you must care for it and she gives him a mason jar to keep it in where he feeds it and puts a branch in it to take care of it.
“One day the caterpillar climbs up the branch and starts to weave a cocoon around itself. The boy is fascinated watching it. He asks his mom what’s happening and his mom says this is how it becomes a butterfly.
“He can’t wait for it to come out and emerge. One day, the caterpillar has a small crack in the opening trying to push itself out. The little boy is impatient and wants to help the butterfly. The boy grabs scissors and cuts open the crack. Out pops out the caterpillar and out pops a butterfly but it’s very swelled with shriveled up wings. He’s expecting for it to fly away but it doesn’t. He goes to his mom to ask why it isn’t flying away.
“His mom says the reason why you don’t want to cut it open for the butterfly it has to struggle.
“It has to go through that phase because when it pushes itself to go through the little hole, it pushes the fluid through the body and through the wings and nourishes the wings. It needs the struggle to get to that next level of life and transformation.
“The beauty is in the butterfly, the growth happens in the cocoon.
“The treasure we seek in life is often hidden in the work we’re avoiding.”
I had to call my mom and tell her that story. It really resonated with me.
Some other cool points from the podcast:
- “Part of self care is asking for help
- “ANTs – Automatic Negative Thoughts occur in our brain.
- “Learning helps you live longer.
- “Positivity and performance are contagious.
“Catch it, Challenge it, Change it”
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.”
-Richard Bach
