After watching a bee, having fallen into the middle of my rather large swimming pool yesterday, swim to the side and crawl out I had an “aha” Taoist moment and decided to share what I saw and how it related to the lesson I needed to learn at the time. I was feeling depressed and felt I was in a helpless situation. Sometimes Mother Nature knows best when it comes to the lessons we need to learn.
- I saw something looking like a mini speedboat moving across the swimming pool and wondered what it was, perhaps some kind of water insect I had never seen before. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to have a look.
As it turned out it was a bee swimming in my pool. He had obviously found himself to be in uncommon territory and facing adversity. Instead of dwelling on the situation he was in and end up sinking into further adversity, he immediately sprung into action and began to work on improving his current situation.
- The bee went around flowers, leaves and sticks not stopping and climbing up on them.
The possibility of a quick and convenient “fix” as a solution to his problem did not fool him. Why settle for a sinking island when you can aim for a dry continent. Solutions to problems may seem hard and far away at times but if a more immediate solution seems too good to be true it probably is.
- The bee went the slightly long way around.
Sometimes the path to our goal isn’t always a straight road. It may wind around and we may find obstacles in our path but if we keep on going we will get there. Most of the time the path appears to become longer because of personal actions we have taken. The idea is that we can on moving towards our goal regardless.
- The bee stopped for a few seconds when he was so close to his destination.
After swimming for over 2 meters and approximately a mere 30cm from the side of the swimming pool the bee stopped. He was so close to his goal but not having realised it, there was the possibility that he was on the verge of giving up. Why should he have continued when he couldn’t see the end in sight and all he could focus on was the adversity that surrounded him?
Then he started again and with speed and vigour he aimed directly for his destination. Why should he give up his goal? His determination to keep on going was not going to be stopped by anything.
- The bee then started again and went to the side, reaching his destination.
The little bee crawled out of the pool and lay on the bricks in the sun for a moment to dry off. He had achieved his goal and was triumphant. He had faced adversity, he had not given up on his goal and he had succeeded. As he flew away perhaps he looked back. The higher and higher he rose in the sky the smaller the pool would appear.
His past adversity becoming smaller and smaller, seeming less important the higher he rose up into his future.
The bee symbolises hard work, and quite often work that needs a team in order to achieve their goals as a group. Sometimes you may be so lost in your own moments of adversity you may forget there are others out there who need you and who can help you as well.
This little bee that took up just a few minutes of my life on one warm summer afternoon has taught me a lesson that will affect me for a long time to come. It is a remarkable concept how something so small in one short moment may significantly affect the lives of others.
Don’t give up you may be closer to achieving your goals than you realise.
)O(
Good blog.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read your piece of writing today it felt like you were talking to me. Thank you for sharing this with us. I feel I can conquer anything I want. love and light
ReplyDeleteExactly what I needed after spending a very lousy day in the metaphorical deep end
ReplyDeleteBeautiful story. Thank you for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteI've got a love-hate relationship with predestination. When I was a teenager I actually quit my parents'church because I could not live with a religion that told me my fate after life was chosen before my birth, no matter what I did in this life. I still think so today. Yet I also believe that one should think really hard before passing up a big opportunity that comes across your path. So in a sense I'm inclined to go with what was set up for me more often than not, I guess. However, that's all based on GOOD things coming our way. Tragedy has never been something I've wanted to philosophise about.
ReplyDeleteA week ago, our bird flew away. It happened under almost unavoidable, and definitely under unforseeable, circumstances, but still I'll always blame myself. I've been crushed, and I guess not unsurprisingly I've become a little paranoid about the safety of our remaining pets. So much so that after midnight two days ago I packed them up and carted them down two flights of stairs to the main living area of our house so that I could be with them as much as possible, and so that they wouldn't run the risk of being taken by rogue owls during the night. I should add at this point that there ARE no owls in Lecques - something I kept telling myself as I carried them downstairs. I was being stupid, and just reacting emotionally after a sad event. I shouldn't let my paranoia disrupt their lives.
Mid morning the next day, as I got up after finally sleeping peacefully despite the 33 degree heat, I came down to check on them and then went up to their 'old' room to have a shower. It was surrounded by swarming bees - and some were already inside the room. I'm no bee expert, but I do know that being trapped and being hot agitates bees and that agitated bees will attack things that move. And that pets move when they panic.
Had Kenny not flown away a week before, I would never have thought twice about leaving all three animals in that room. They would have been panicking and trapped in their cages wih a group of angry bees and I would have really had a hard time getting them out safely. Had Kenny not flown away, they might all have been stung to death.
Now, I'm not saying I've accepted that it's a good thing he went missing. I don't think I'll ever accept it. But in a small quiet corner in the back of my mind, a quiet voice is whispering that maybe, if you stay open to the messages around you, even the dark times in your life will be shown to have their place.
Another lesson from the bees