For some creatures, their destiny is mapped out for them and their purpose in life is clear. A caterpillar must become a butterfly. It has to evolve and change, because it is programmed to do so. Life wrote its story, life determined that this would be the way of things. There is nothing to stop it. Even if it could, the caterpillar is powerless to stay as a caterpillar, it has to change, it has to become something else, something more than it was. No amount of effort can prevent it from becoming that which it was always destined to be from its birth. The life story of a caterpillar perfectly illustrates two very important truths of life. First, that inside of each of us there resides a great beauty waiting to be revealed and second, that each of us has one true destiny to fulfil.
My own soul and my own heart, spent many years as a closely guarded secret. I kept them hidden from the world at large, too afraid to show my true self, too scared of what other people would say about me, or think of me. I hid my true soul from my family and my friends. I struggled with my weight from a young age and this had a massive impact on how I viewed myself. In short, I viewed myself as ugly. Ugly on the outside, ugly on the inside. And I viewed myself in that way for many years. That opinion of myself took a hold of me, it buried in roots deep in heart, it corrupted the way I thought of myself, it poisoned me against myself, and rather than step out and be all that I could be, I hid myself away. I was embarrassed to be me. A flower needs the sun and without it, will slowly wilt and die. I denied myself sunlight and my heart and my soul began to wilt and fade. Slowly, imperceptibly, I was killing myself.
There is one thing that holds true for life on this amazing planet. Life is never beaten. Life always finds a way. In the arid, scorching, desolate sands of the desert, life exists. In the deepest, darkest, abyss of the ocean, life thrives. In the cold, desolate, bleak, freezing, whiteness of the poles, life finds a way to hold on. Once created, life is a force that will keep on trying to survive, no matter the odds, no matter the conditions, no matter the adversities. So it is with our hearts. Our hearts are our life force. All the time that your heart continues to beat, you have life coursing through your veins. That life cannot be denied. It cannot be halted. It cannot be contained. Life rescued me. Or rather, I saw a break in the clouds and the emergence of a ray of golden light, and I saw that I had a chance to be more than I was, to go in discovery of my true self, to unleash the power and the beauty that resided in me. And at the same time, I was given a chance to find my own true destiny.
Through a combination of events and circumstances, I freed myself from the shackles that had bound me. I began to walk on my true path, I began to believe in myself. The doubts and the fears about who I was subsided and were replaced by hope and confidence. The more time I spent walking my own path, the stronger my convictions grew about who I was, who I wanted to be, what I wanted to do. I did not need anything from my past to define me. Everything that I needed to be me already existed within me. I had always known that my heart was sensitive. I had felt it all of my life. I had always known that I was very much in tune with my emotions and felt joy, loss, elation, and sadness keenly. Now, walking my path, I listened to my heart, I heard its voice and I heeded its call. I began to let my true self emerge, I began to understand that I had no reason to be afraid of who I was. I finally understood that it is not how we look on the outside that defines the person that we are, it is through our actions, our words, our thoughts and our hearts that we are defined. It is what resides on the inside, that truly reveals our beauty as a person.
I see these two things as intrinsically linked in my life. I was not able to began to reveal my true self, until I began to walk my true path. One led to the other. Perhaps it was that at some point I showed my true self first, and though doing so, I discovered my path. Yes, now that I have had that thought, I can feel the truth of it. There was a person to whom I lowered my guard, to whom I showed my true self, my true spirit and in me, that person saw the struggle that I had to be free, and they offered me the hand of friendship and of fellowship. They helped me to see the way ahead could only be my own way, my own destiny, my one true path.
I learned to stop hating who I thought I was and instead, to love who I am. I learned to accept myself and to forgive myself, and this is an act of love - perhaps the greatest act of love. Love reveals our inner being and beauty. Love reveals our destiny. I now walk the path of love. It is love that unlocks the door to life and to the discovery of the light that resides within. Through loving your own heart, you are able to truly set it free and to become everything that you were born to be. Through love, I reveal my true self. Through love, I walk my true path.
If you hear the voice of your heart and do not heed its call, then you will be destined to live out your life, just as a caterpillar does. You'll know and you'll understand that you have a calling, a destiny that needs to be fulfilled, yet you will deny it to yourself. In so doing, you will also deny yourself the opportunity to reveal your true self, that self that is your inner beauty. If you do heed the call of your heart and begin to walk your one true path, then you will transform yourself into a butterfly. You'll reveal your true self as a thing of beauty, you won't be afraid to show your fragility, since this is the very thing that defines what you are and allows you to be all that you need to be. Through revealing your true beauty and fragility, you will show your strength and with an unfettered heart, you will flex your wings and fly free on the breeze.
Each of us is born a caterpillar. Only those that walk their one true path will reveal the simple truth of life. That we are born to be butterflies.
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