We are spirits in quest of a physical experience. Which of course is contrary to our indoctrination—that we are physical beings in search of spirituality. We are weaned off the security of our mother’s wombs with the message that we are born into sin; or we have been reborn to pay past karmic debts. We carry a six-pack of guilt with us. Always wondering if we are in God’s favor or is that just too far out of reach.

No wonder humanity straddles the teeter-totter of sanity and instability.

Truth is we are all in God’s grace for God is merely the energy of light and love and since we are made in that image—we too are agents of light, healing and love. We just don’t know it. Somehow, somewhere somewhy, we’ve forgotten this along this wild wacky rollercoaster called life. Maybe we’ve faced insurmountable trauma, loss, or hurt. Maybe we’ve just lost all hope. Maybe we keep searching outward for what is already inside us.

In a sense we are caterpillars awaiting the butterfly principle.

Caterpillars are born. All cute, fuzzy and warm. They learn to crawl. Find nourishment in the leaves. Then they craft their cocoon. Incubate. And wait.

So often, this is how we live our lives. We learn to crawl and seek shelter in our cocoons, and then we grow complacent, or wary, and forget that eternal lesson from the caterpillar—to take that leap of faith and fly.

But in order for the caterpillar to emerge as a butterfly it must give way to its former self and…well…die. Literally. That is the butterfly principle. Transfiguration. Transmutation. Transformation.

So how do we learn to take flight and resurrect? How do we trust our wings when we oft feel we are crawling on broken legs? How do we let go of the comfort and assurance of what IS, even if what is yields sorrow and pain? How do we take that leap of faith that we will be okay? Isn’t it better…safer…to stay warm inside our cocoons? And if not, then what do we do?

We start first and foremost by rejecting the concepts of shame and guilt over past failures or mistakes and embracing one of gratitude. When we are in a state of gratitude, we see the world differently.

Suddenly obstacles become opportunities; slammed doors, goodbyes and losses become open windows, hellos, and gains. When we remove the clutter from our lives—be it patterns, thoughts, or even relationships that no longer work for us–and send it on its way with gratitude for what it gave and taught us–the good and the bad—our hearts…our energy…lightens, and we pave room for the new. And when we can do that, we emerge from our cocoons and take flight with wings we never knew we possessed. And we realize that while we are something different and new, we never could have become this had we not been who and what we were in the past.

Hence the caterpillar becomes the butterfly. One and the same. Yet not.