As women on a path of emotional, spiritual, and physical evolution, we are constantly called to reinvent ourselves. The perfect teacher for this life lesson is, of course, the caterpillar.
I want you to think about the life of a caterpillar for a moment. When the caterpillar hears the call to climb the tree, what does it do? It doesn’t look around and wonder what’s up the tree. It doesn’t lament leaving its family or outgrowing its old life. It doesn’t wonder if it’s going to succeed or have enough resources. It simply listens to the call and climbs the tree. It knows that it’s time—time to grow, to expand, to transform, and to fly. It trusts the intelligence of the calling, without having to figure it all out and without needing to know the outcome—by innately following its own universal blueprint.
The most incredible part of the metamorphosis journey of the butterfly is that after the caterpillar climbs the tree and cocoons itself, something powerful happens. Within the cocoon, the caterpillar releases an enzyme that turns itself into a soupy liquid, resulting in complete self-destruction. While this process of releasing its old identity is messy, disorienting, and confusing, it’s also utterly beautiful, divine, and sacred.
It turns out that the caterpillar was born with something called imaginal cells. These cells are a unique DNA genome that lie dormant the caterpillar’s entire life; once activated, they take over its body and catalyze its transformation into a butterfly.
It’s undeniably remarkable that the caterpillar was born with a universal blueprint coded into its cells, ready to go at the exact right time and in the exact right way. But the Divine Directives and heart whispers in you are no different. You are akin to every animal, tree, plant, flower, bird, and caterpillar born into this world, with your own “imaginal” cells, if you will, lying dormant and waiting for you to listen to the call, and to allow Life to guide the way.
Most of us don’t trust that the same universal intelligence in the caterpillar also lives within ourselves. As women, we often cut ourselves off at an early age from the powerful gift of our intuition. Because we don’t think we can trust Life, we believe we have to work hard for everything and figure it all out. We doubt that there is universal intelligence flowing through us because we can’t see it, and we typically don’t trust things we can’t see. But, more than anything else, we’re afraid to relinquish control, scared that if we let go of the reins of our life, everything will fall apart. In other words, we’re afraid that if we allow Life to guide us, we might not get the outcome we want. We want to be butterflies, yes, but we fear metamorphosis.
Allowing Life is a process of co-creation and collaboration. Hence, you don’t merely sit around and get angry when nothing happens. Remember, if the caterpillar didn’t bother climbing the tree, we would have no butterfly. Likewise, you aren’t in charge of the outcome, but you are responsible for taking the next Inspired Action in front of you.
Life will give you clues to guide you on your path, and it will create the perfect circumstances for you to learn, grow, and deliver precisely what you need to help give you your dreams. All you have to do is allow it.
Life wants you to be happy and feel fulfilled; it didn’t create you to be dissatisfied, stuck, or trapped. In contrast, Life made you so that you could actualize your destiny and live fully while you’re here on earth.
I can’t stress enough that you truly have everything you need inside you to live the life you want.
Even better, you are never alone in this process. Life is always speaking, always whispering, “Climb the tree!” “Grow!” “Trust me!” It’s whispering and calling, whispering and calling. But you have to start listening to those pulls of your heart, even if you’re scared. Believe me, your path will unfold if you take the first step, and then allow Life to provide the second and the third and the fourth.
The most significant task you will ever have on this earth is learning how to overcome your fear, stop waiting until you have all the answers, and start taking Inspired Action. When you do that, the road will rise to meet you on your journey. Sometimes the baby steps make perfect sense. But oftentimes, you may not see how the whispers, or the “dots,” are going to lead you to where you want to go—and that’s okay. Even when things don’t make sense, you must keep on walking.
As the African proverb so beautifully says, “As you pray, move your feet.”
So, listen to your heart and stay in action. You may stop to rest and recharge from time to time, but you must keep walking because the path doesn’t reveal itself if you’re standing still for too long in the same place.
