Today is May 3 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you practice patience with yourself, and with others?”
French writer Antoine de Saint- Exupéry published his novella The Little Prince in 1943. The novella is one of the most-translated books in the world and was voted the best book of the 20th century in France.
After the outbreak of the Second World War, Saint-Exupéry was exiled to North America. In the midst of personal upheavals and failing health, he produced almost half of the writings for which he would be remembered, including a tender tale of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss, in the form of a young prince fallen to Earth. An earlier memoir by the author had recounted his aviation experiences in the Sahara Desert, and he is thought to have drawn on those same experiences in The Little Prince.
In The Little Prince Saint-Exupéry wrote “well I must endure the presence of a few caterpillars if I wish to become acquainted with the butterflies.” In other words, if you want to have some of one, you need to put up with the other. Is this not true of most of our relationships? Is it not true of being kind towards ourselves? No one is born a butterfly.
Even the people we consider butterflies today had a caterpillar stage at some point. The important point is to realize that as long as we keep growing, the butterfly stage is available to each of us, eventually. We can get there if we keep working at it.
Eventually, we will get better and better, and then one day, we’ll realize we have become the butterfly we wanted to be. The same goes for our friends and family. You may have watched in envy as an older sibling emerged from the change and flew off as a butterfly while you were still a caterpillar. Or perhaps you watched a younger sibling, friend, or relative make the transformation.
Just remember to ask yourself ‘how often you practice patience with yourself, and with others?’ Doing so just might help you, or someone you know, transform into a butterfly.