In our work, we champion the butterfly as one of the most iconic insect ambassadors out there. Beautiful, interesting, and fun to watch, it's usually fairly easy for most folks to connect with them or at least appreciate their antics. But right now, they have the potential to be so much more than that. Butterflies can be a bridge for people from all walks of life....all politics aside, these tiny, fragile animals have the power to help us step outside of ourselves, to bring us into the moment, to connect us to each other and the world at large.
I've been thinking on this a fair bit, feeling for myself the need for a strong jolt of connection, to people, to nature, to myself. My empathic soul knows that others, whether they're aware of it or not, need this as well.
Enter the butterfly. Their easy grace and beauty underscores their role in our collective consciousness. As ambassadors to important ecological and conservation issues, they make it easy for us to engage with our environment, and even try to affect a change by planting a butterfly garden, becoming involved in citizen scientist programs, or simply to stop and notice them as they flutter by.
But now, in these extremely stressful and uncertain times, they can be more. They can remind us of our own grace and beauty. They can give us permission to take that moment of pause, to be fully present. They grant us permission to take a deep breath, and stand in the sunshine, free of worry, pain and sorrow. Just for a moment.
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