Bees & Butterflies

   My son has a proclivity for scaring himself.   He has a very active mind that sometimes seems like it runs him rather than the other way around.  His internal world is so vivid that  it's easy for him to forget his thoughts  are just thoughts.  And if those thoughts are scary, understandably, he feels scared.

Recently I told him that a frightening thought is like a bee. When it comes by and we react strongly and try to swat it away, it's more likely to sting -  and we're probably going to feel like a victim.  But if we hold still, it's likely to simply move on.

When our minds are overly active, they're inclined to inspire fearful feelings.  And that's what his does.  I once saw a video of a woman who'd been diagnosed as schizophrenic and bi-polar.  She described how, after becoming aware of her power to settle herself internally, she found that when she stilled her mind, "there was no mental illness".   This served as a profound insight for her in her healing.

Fear, worry, and anxiety are  byproducts of an overly active mind. And an overly active mind exists because of the attention we pour into our thoughts.  Our attention is what keeps those thoughts alive and multiplying.   We always have thoughts and we can either let them go by or we can grab hold of them with our attention.  When we do the latter - it's easy to forget it was we who grabbed them rather than the other way around. 

But there is more to this story.  In life, we hold still so the bee flies away, but we also hold still so the butterfly might stay or even come to us.  The same thing occurs internally: inspiration, transformation, love, and beauty tend to come when we allow ourselves to be still. It's not difficult to do, but it does require a decision.