Busting out of the cocoon, shedding your skin, breaking through the shell.
How many of you have actually seen the process in real life? – not on a video – of a butterfly or moth changing form, creating a cocoon and then being still for a while on the outside but totally transforming on the inside to then have to push through another layer, which gives you the final touches for survival as the new form, and then coming out. Still sensitive and new, having to learn to navigate the surroundings as the new form and, I would assume, forgetting the rest…..
Or maybe you are like my friend and you have a pet lizard who does this often in their life time??
With reptiles, I believe, the process is similar, in that underneath their current skin they are feeling the need to change and their bodies are beginning the process. But they must carry with them both the old and the new until the old is completely replaced and fallen off – this is VERY fitting for what is happening in the world at the moment as both the old ways which we know we have outgrown and the new ways which are here for many of us are both existing. Perhaps this is called dual reality? Or perhaps it is just a more evolved animals way of shedding it’s skin…. I’ll leave that up to you – it feels like the last of my old world has come off with a vengeance! And now I'm a bit raw and a bit unsure of my surroundings but I can sense it is the right space to be in for the next part of the adventure.
I remember hearing the butterfly analogy on a business development CD – and being reminded that you can’t interfere – you need to let nature run it’s course because if you see the struggle but then try to assist by slitting the cocoon, or even breaking the egg for the chick or pulling the skin off the reptile, then you actually hinder the animal and in most cases they die.
We are like this – those of us who can tell there is something else out there, those who actively seek to grow and expand and change who we are, to become the best version of ourselves and for some, fulfil a life purpose which perhaps we don’t really know at the start.
Today I got to talk to a friend, someone who I work with and who is journeying through the amazing and uncomfortable process or becoming her best self and living her life on purpose and as we were talking I was going to share about the snake and how it must shed it’s skin in order to grow, that underneath the old skin is a very sensitive new one that is soft and when it is time for it to fully activate the old must go. BUT at this point in time snakes are not a hot topic and although they can provide swift transformation, there is still a dislike of them there. But that’s ok – because she actually has a journal buddy, he sits by her, or more she sits beside his tank, and journals and he watches her. Today during our convo it dawned on me that this is what he has been sharing with her, he is in the process of shedding his skin to fit into a new one and as she shared what had been going on for her, how she was feeling and the processes of life the analogy was perfect!
What was even more perfect was that at this moment in time she has become aware of his discomfort, of his moods if you like and his behaviours and hadn’t even thought that perhaps she was going through the same thing. I will leave it up to her to share the rest of her story and the journey after the awareness, I’m pretty sure she is including it in her book :)
How cool is this!
And how great is it that when we take the time to check in we can receive the messages we need from the natural world around us.
Animals are a wonderful teacher for moments of transition, for periods of change and transformation. Whilst we are slightly more evolved, our journeys are often a similar pattern, and sometimes I sense life can actually be easier if we do simplify life and observe just that little bit more.