Have you ever been struggling with something in your life that seems insurmountable at the moment and you have no idea how you’re going to solve it or make it better?
I struggled with something like that in the last few weeks. I’m developing a workshop and I had a particular approach that I thought would be great but, no matter what I did it just wasn’t coming together. On a day I was feeling particularly low and unable to see my way out of a paper bag, a friend reached out to help me. She happens to also be a very wise coach, and somewhere in the long conversation she said, “what if it could happen another way?”
The butterfly …
As I sat on my patio on that lovely Spring day pondering the question with my friend, a beautiful butterfly flew in front of me and spent some time hovering around the garden making sure that I was paying attention. It was my first butterfly sighting of the season. I mentioned it to my friend and she said, “That butterfly may have a message for you. What could it be?”
So we “googled” the significance of the Butterfly and here’s what it said: “The purpose of the life of every butterfly is to set everything that was once known aside and to embrace an entire new way of being.”
The message I got from that was to let go of what was (and what’s not working) and embrace the possibilities of what can be — and BELIEVE that it can happen.
I was working so hard at forcing the workshop to fit into my original design that I forgot to let go of “the how” and go with the flow. (Perhaps this is something like the butterfly’s struggle to emerge from its cocoon.)
As I brainstormed new ideas with my friend, it was easy to let go of my original plan. In the few days that followed, a new design for the workshop was revealed (as if by magic), dates and locations came easily and the content flowed out of me as though it was there all along. This project now excites me rather than feels like a heavy burden. I’m feeling like the butterfly that gracefully floated around my garden.
How can the butterfly help you?
What feels like a burden to you today? If you were to think about it differently, how could you change the way it feels to you? Chatting about it with someone you trust can help you see another perspective which you may be too close to see.
So often we keep ourselves stuck in a place for longer than we need to be there because we think the situation can’t be changed. If we can change our perspective, more often than not we can find creative solutions for anything that burdens us.
Remember the butterfly:
JUST when the caterpillar
thought her world was over,
she became a butterfly.
From my “butterfly” heart to yours …
Inspiration Ambassador | Divorce Transition Coach
SafeHarbor Coaching |Where divorced women create the fulfilling life they deserve
If you’re struggling after divorce, download my free report: “5 Common Myths Divorced Women Believe …” to feel inspired to take the first steps forward.
For continued inspiration, follow me on Facebook .
If you found this post helpful or interesting, please share it with friends!