maya angelou

Wisdom of the Butterfly

Wisdom of the Butterfly
Photo credit: Paula Pipping Hirschmann (my sister)
This morning I had the impulse to randomly open one of my journals where I collect quotes because I wanted to share one with you today.
It so happened (synchronicity!) to be one about the butterfly. This made me think of the beautiful photo of a butterfly my sister posted on her wall yesterday.
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. – Maya Angelou
This got me thinking about the wisdom of butterfly that feels fitting for me and perhaps it may for you too.
I think oftentimes we forget how far we have come and about all the positive changes we’ve made in our lives. How easy it is to think we are not enough, haven’t done enough, and need to be and do more.
This has been a practice for me to know that I am enough…no matter what. All those years I was in the “spotlight” so to speak with my work with my disabled dog, Frankie, and now I’m in a place where I’m content with more solitude.
But yet, I still have this need to make a difference in the world. And the butterfly reminded me that I am…no matter what…just as long as I honor my true heart and live from that space.
All the different layers of myself I’ve peeled away and shed over the years have brought me to this place called me that I am right now. A place, I for the most part, am quite happy about. I’m happy with the changes I’ve made for myself, though not always easy.
And so the butterfly reminds me to pause and remember all I’ve done to get to this point. All the little steps I’ve taken along the way (and will continue to). And as I sit for a moment to look at the photo of this butterfly I see it coming in and landing ever so softly on the flower. In my minds eye I see it opening and closing its wings in the most graceful way – reminding me that there is beauty in the pause and there is beauty when we take flight once again…and that there is beauty in each moment and stage of our lives.
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