Not long ago, I saw an unassuming black and brown caterpillar making its way along a garage door. I knew that wasn’t a good place for it, so I moved it away, into a clump of clover. I didn’t expect to see it again, but it reappeared and hung around…literally.
When I spotted it again, it was hanging from a piece of siding, as if to say “yep, still here!” There was no way I could miss it. I snapped a quick (blurry) photo and finished the morning chores. Later that day, I checked back on it and realized that it had become something very different. Delightfully different.
Not to knock caterpillars – they’re fascinating in their own right – but what the caterpillar would become was exciting to anticipate. And the process of the transformation is one of those natural events that I observe with deserved awe and wonder, because it is truly amazing: consider that the earthbound, creeping caterpillar metamorphoses into a creature freed from the grip of terra firma, able to flit about at will and catch the wind.
Of particular note, to become the butterfly (or moth), the caterpillar, after spinning its cocoon, basically digests itself, recreating and reorganizing itself from the inside out. This isn’t a random, chaotic process, and the (nearly) complete rebuild, if you will, results in something spectacular and incredibly different from where it started.
I feel as though the caterpillar and I have something in common: I, too, am in the midst of transformation, becoming something that was always within me, but was pushed aside in the pursuit of the “dream” (owning a home, cars, taking vacations, having a good job title). In pursuit of the “dream”, I suppressed the dreamer…and now, I’m ready to let the dreamer out. In fact, I’ve been working on inviting the dreamer to manifest, by tapping into the creative side that was always there, waiting.
I’ve been the brown caterpillar, and now, I’m the chrysalis. Whether I emerge as a butterfly or a moth, who knows? Either way, I’ll be something markedly different than when I started the process. And I’m ready to fly.
I’d like to thank the multi-faceted artist who blogs at The Alchemist’s Studio for inspiring this post. Check out his beautiful raku pottery creations and engaging writing at his blog.