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black butterfly

I spent the weekend at beautiful Rowe Camp & Conference Center for a workshop.

All weekend I saw swallowtail butterflies, yellow like embodied sunlight. Butterflies bolster my heart; they remind me that transformation is an underlying principle of reality.

I’ve been especially appreciating butterflies this season. I need to be reminded again and again that the caterpillar doesn’t know what it’s becoming and that the process of emerging from the cocoon is a necessary struggle. Without the struggle, the wings aren’t strong enough to fly.

I conceived of my Resonance Coaching work eight months ago. I’ve felt such joy, curiosity, and creative energy doing the work with individuals and groups; it interweaves my passions and my gifts like nothing else could.

At the same time, bringing new work into the world can be a struggle. Very few people understand what Resonance Coaching means…I myself have been figuring it out as I go! Raising awareness is a challenge, and lately I’ve been riding waves of uncertainty. Who do you think you are? the voice of self-doubt demands. When will you make good money doing this? What makes you think you have what it takes to see this through?

I got to spend this weekend in the presence of people who have followed their own paths of creative unfolding, and hearing their wisdom fortified my heart. What’s more, I received affirmation that the work I am doing has value to others. What I have to offer often seems paltry to me, but several new acquaintances expressed gratitude for our conversations about voice.

As I walked to my car on Sunday afternoon, I breathed in the sweet spring air and thought to myself, “Of course establishing my work is difficult. It’s so different. But that’s the value of it, too.”

Just then a butterfly appeared and flew all around my body. This wasn’t one of the yellow swallowtails. It was a black butterfly with indigo markings on its wings. I looked it up later, and my best guess is that it’s a black swallowtail. It doesn’t look quite like any of the pictures online, but it’s pretty close.

Bottom line, the butterfly was something different. Different like me and my new work.

It waited until the end of the weekend to show up, and it practically danced. (It even let me get close enough for a good picture!)

Sometimes Spirit speaks through the wisdom of people. Sometimes it’s a still small voice in our hearts. Sometimes it’s through a butterfly.

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