Life takes us unexpected places and that is where we find our greatest beauty. I had such a day a while ago. I was focused on a quickly-moving target - a shining dragonfly on which all of my focus was trained. I stalked ide like a lion observing a gazelle, holding my camera ready at the right moment to capture a wonderful moment of that graceful flight. But, as so often occurs in nature, the object of my search eluded me, simply evaporating into thin air. I felt a fleeting moment of disappointment, maybe even a tinge of frustration, and felt I had lost. My plan did not materialize.
But rather than be drawn into search for something that was not there, I simply shifted my gaze and noted the goings and comings in front of me: a beautiful hibiscus flower whose delicate pink petals glistened in the sun. And in this patch of flowers, busy bumblebees. What a gift! My intention disappeared and I focused my attention on the busy, furry emissaries of summer.
It was delightful to observe them at work, energetically darting from flower to flower with a single-mindedness that almost looked like some kind of meditation. Each bumblebee seemed absolutely present to the work it was doing of collecting nectar and, by the bye, pollinating the earth. I had never seen such a spectacle, and it stopped me in my tracks. It felt as if nature was gently reminding me of something: sometimes the real magic happens when we stop searching for what we expected to find and instead embrace and admire something that presents itself to us as a surprise. The dragonfly was the lure, but the bumblebees were the true message.
Bumblebees, these industrious little beings, are far more than just insects. They are the unsung heroes of our ecosystems. Frequently discounted and literally swatted away, bumblebees perform incredible feats for our planet. They don't just pollinate cultivated and wild flowering plants, but make our planet workable through pollinizing flowers with deep cores, of which they are far to most effective. The process is called buzz pollination, and it involves shaking the flower using their wings at a specific speed for the pollen to become feasible. If bumblebees disappeared, fruit and seed production would be drastically reduced, which would cripple the available food for many organisms. A bumblebee is a vital part of the great wheel of life.
People say the bumblebee doesn't know it cannot fly. It just flies. This old motivational quote, whose exact origin is often attributed, but difficult to substantiate, which is full of more proverbial wisdom: "The bumblebee cannot fly; but it flies anyways, because it doesn't know it can't." It is a metaphor for incredible faith, for overcoming apparent limitations, and for the chances of power inherently stuck in every one of us when we do not allow our limit to be defined by external factors or disbelief. In so many ways, the bumblebee means to say, do not let seemingly impossible things deter you; it just keeps buzzing and fulfilling a purpose.
When looking at the images, I don't just see bumblebees on a hibiscus. I see the moment's beauty, I see life resilience, and I see the nature of deep interdependence. I see a reminder that we should always be flexible to shifts and surprised by life. Sometimes it is precisely the divergence from our indication that is the most beautiful discovery, to make us pause and wonder. So, I am thankful for the absence of the dragonfly as it opened my eyes to these wonderful bumblebees and to the wisdom, and I hope we can all be bumblebees: fearless, hard-working, and confident in our own undiscovered strength.
Thank you for stopping by and enjoy your weekend to the fullest no matter where, no matter how, the main thing is that you stay positive!🙃✌️
