#NotesofCare

March- April is the time for spring and of ‘Chaitra-Vaishakh’, of celebrating renewal in nature. Taking inspiration from this and revisiting the Lifecycle of a Butterfly from a different perspective today in #NotesofCare.

“What a caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly” – Richard Bach

We all know the story of the lifecycle of a butterfly- of how the caterpillar transforms into the butterfly. It has long been used as a metaphor for the process of transformation from one dimension to another, from knowing something on the surface, then undergoing a deep experience that leads to a whole new capacity and perception.

But if we dig deeper, don’t we wonder how a caterpillar which is so different in its form, can emerge as a butterfly. After all, it doesn’t seem to have anything in common with the winged creature that emerges. We don’t see any hint of the new form in its previous avatar. How then does this miracle happen.

The biological steps of this mystery of transformation is described by the evolution biologist and futurist, Elisabet Shatouris:?

A caterpillar can eat up to three hundred times its own weight in a day, devastating many plants in the process, continuing to eat until it’s so bloated that it hangs itself up and goes to sleep, its skin hardening into a chrysalis. Then, within the chrysalis, within the body of the dormant caterpillar, a new and very different kind of creature, the butterfly, starts to form. This confused biologists for a long time. How could a different genome plan exist within the caterpillar to form a different creature? It was not known until quite recently that cells with the butterfly genome were held as aggregates, or as biologists call ‘imaginal cells’, tucked inside pockets of the caterpillar’s skin all its life, remaining undeveloped until the crisis of overeating, fatigue and breakdown finally creates the impetus which allows them to develop.

What this story describes best is a felt sense of how our psyches change or how our consciousness grows. It can feel like one’s beliefs, understanding and way we live are going along just fine, even optimally, and then suddenly they just stop working. One can’t “eat” any more of the same old ways of thinking or being. People often withdraw at this time and feel like they are dissolving into confusion and disorientation on the inside, even if it is not showing on the outside.

This massive consumption and then the exhaustion and the following rest and breakdown is what we can see as a parallel in our own lives, especially when we go through a crisis of self or burnout within an ecosystem.

This is the stage where our chrysalis finally gets a moment to rest and search within. If we look within deeply, we can find the ‘imaginal cells’ which will help us get out of the hardened web of a shell around us and give us the ability to crack it and emerge renewed or even anew.

This is an opportunity, a chance waiting to be taken. Often it takes that very deep breakdown, confusion and internal flux to find our way out of the chrysalis.

So next time you feel overwhelmed and crashing, reach deep within, rest awhile and take the time to find your imaginal cells. This can be a gift, the spring of a new, refreshed you.

Wishing you renewal and new opportunities in every which way as we enter this new year.

#transformation #tcscares #tcs #dandelionstalk #renewal

Source- Great Transition Stories