Lessons from the cocoon

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. Maya Angelou

The butterfly only becomes beautiful in the confines of a cocoon. We tend to forget that. We tend to forget that it was wrapped up and underwent a metamorphosis that ushered in its beauty. But it's the only way.
And so it is with us. Within the confines of painful and altering situations we undergo a metamorphosis that ushers in our own beauty (yes even you men!). But just like with the butterfly we tend to forget that. We forget that it is through the refining process that we become beautiful in character. It is in that cocoon-type process that we shed the things that hold us back from being free to fly. Tough things have a way of removing whatever is in the way of our freedom to be who we are.
What would happen if caterpillars refused to enter their cocoon? We would have no butterflies. We would be lacking in the beauty of them as well as whatever purpose they serve (I know they serve one but I'm not about to go do research on that right now). Same goes for us. What if we refuse, and we do, to enter into the cocoon of refining? We would be stuck, inching along the ground, unable to contribute to the world we've been placed in. We would deprive the world of our beautiful spirit and of whatever purpose we are hear to serve, for we are all here to serve some purpose (I don't need to research that to know it is true). The metamorphosis of the cocoon ushers in beauty and purpose, embrace it.

Comments

Butter someone up

There are two probable origins for this idiom and I think both are equally plausible. The first one is that when you spread butter on bread you are buttering it up like one would do when trying to flatter someone. The second is in ancient India there was a practice of throwing balls of butter at statues to ask for favor, i.e. buttering them up. ( source ) When we use the phrase today we generally mean that extreme flattery is used to gain information or favor. It's not always necessarily a compliment.

A dime a dozen

"It's said that in the year 1796, the first U.S. dimes were produced for circulation. Hence, it would make sense for this phrase to originate sometime after." Read more here . Today the phrase carries the meaning that something is cheap or without value if it can be lumped in with other similar or exactly-like things. It's more of an insult than anything.

Life according to van Gogh...sort of

There are two ways of thinking about painting, how not to do it and how to do it; how to do it -- with much drawing and little color; how not to do it -- with much color and little drawing. Vincent van Gogh in a l etter to Theo van Gogh, April 1882 Life is a little bit like today's quote from van Gogh. Some of us live life focusing on the drawing - the details - and have very little color. Others of us go for the color and forsake, to a degree, the drawing - the details. Unlike painting, according to van Gogh, one is not wrong over the other but somewhere in between the two would be the best I would think. If you look at some of van Gogh's paintings I feel like you can see where he might have struggled between the "how to do it" and the " how not to do it" (as he admittedly loved color so much but knew he had to focus more on the drawing) and that seems to be reflected in his life as well. In the end he wasn't able to find the ...

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