If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.  ~Author Unknown

A friend of mine gave me a beautiful card last summer when I was going through some transitions in my life.  You may have read it somewhere before, as well.  It stated, “Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it turned into a butterfly”.  I thought it to be such a fitting analogy for life.  It got me thinking about the 4 stages, or transitions, of the life of this intricate creature from caterpillar to butterfly.  In order to eventually arrive at the stage of butterfly, the caterpillar needs to change – not just change, but it has to embrace this change.  There  is a difference.  Imagine if the caterpillar resisted the inevitable fact that its purpose IS to change.  What if it stopped eating and thus failed to expand enough to have the strength to build its cocoon?  Change was part of it’s DNA whether it liked it or not.  If it did not morph into who it was supposed to become, it would die.

As I stated in one of my earlier posts, change is truly the only constant in our lives.  Do we all struggle with change to a certain degree?  Absolutely.  But, like the caterpillar-butterfly, change WILL happen whether we want it or not.  It’s how we handle it that will determine the outcome of our lives.  It can either happen to us without our knowledge or we can actively seek it.  Either way, it happens for us.  It gives rise to opportunities that we can’t yet see.  Through the caterpillar’s struggles, it develops wings. We can also find that, through our own struggles, we will develop new skills and be engaged in a world we never thought possible. 

In our lives, we are constantly morphing and changing.  Sometimes, that process is painful, like a sunburn, as we shed our outer layers to give rise to a new a skin beneath.  This happens on a physical and mental level.  It is a necessary process that is embedded within us, allowing us to grow.  The poet, Nikki Giovanni says, “Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you’re in and take advantage of it,” she says. “You still bring to bear all your prior experience, but you’re riding on another level. It’s completely liberating.” 

Riding on another level……isn’t that the truth!  Remember, a butterfly can see the world in a way that the caterpillar never would.  By embracing change, you can, too!

Deepali’s piece of wellness:  Don’t be afraid of change.  Use it and let it steer your course.