This summer, I’ve been writing about the world outside and how it pertains to us as we move forward in our lives with Lipedema. I’ve been trying to get outside every day, touch the ground with my bare feet, look at the sky each morning, and connect with nature – in other words, living in the moment. This isn’t always easy to do, but it’s worth it.
The Mysterious Dragonfly
Today, let’s consider the mysterious dragonfly. It’s been around for 300 million years. Prehistoric ones were often a few feet long! It spends its immature stages living in the water for about a year. Its adult stage is spent in the air and is about a month or two long.
Perhaps dragonflies can also teach us a lot about how fleeting life is. Time is short – especially for a Dragonfly who spends most of its life in the water – so we should try to live in the moment and appreciate every minute of it.
In almost every part of the world, the dragonfly symbolizes change, transformation, adaptability, and self-realization. This change is often mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life.
On Dragonflies Being a Reflection of Ourselves
When the dragonfly flies across the water in a flitting, scurrying way, just above the surface, looking deep into the water, it represents an act of looking deeper into life. Since it only spends a month or so above the surface, this often represents us looking back at our lives and soaring ahead with our future.
The dragonfly’s wings and body are iridescent. Iridescence shows itself in different colors depending on the angle and how the sunlight hits it. Iridescence seems to be magical. When we shed light on our real selves and remove the doubts we cast on our own sense of identity, we can see our many true colors.
The dragonfly lives most of its life in an immature stage. It flies only for a fraction of its life. This represents living in the moment and living life to the fullest. By living in the moment, we become aware of who we are, where we are, what we are doing, what we want, and what we don’t want. It helps us make choices on a moment-to-moment basis and helps us see the self that comes with maturity. We can reach beyond our self-created ideas that can limit our growth and our ability to change. In a way, what I’ve been doing this summer, is actually trying to live where the mysterious dragonfly does: in the moment.
I was in a meeting with a colleague the other day. She was wearing a new shirt with a dragonfly on it. Under the dragonfly were the words, “Be Kind.” Later in the day, the largest dragonfly I had ever seen alighted on the railing of the patio where I was sitting. Immediately, those two simple words on my colleague’s shirt popped into my mind…
Be Kind. Live in the moment and be kind, as the mysterious dragonfly.
~ Gail Straker, BAEd
Community Manager, Director of Coaching
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