Lessons from the Bumblebee

I was at a workshop recently with people who believe in things like messages from nature, spirit guides, animal wisdom, synchronicity, and the like. Not that I don’t share these ideas, I’m just saying that to explain how I got into the mood to make the observations I’ll be reporting here.

Early in the workshop, on a break, I was enjoying spring weather, when I saw a bumble bee. He looked confused and it seemed his actions were a little haphazard and eventless. I thought perhaps he was sent to me for some reason, so I spent a few minutes watching him, but frankly, I ended up thinking he really didn’t know what he was trying to accomplish. His behavior made no sense to me.

Later, in the workshop, I identified with the bumblebee. I felt directionless, like I didn’t know what I was doing, like my actions in the workshop weren’t going to result in a favorable outcome. However, I decided to adopt the bee’s relaxed demeanor and just keep doing my best until it became clearer what was expected of me.

A few days later, still in this workshop, on the morning of my student performance, I was outside stretching and here came that bee again. He was certainly sent for me! I had seen him twice. I became determined to figure out what he was doing.

He flew low to the ground, slowly, seemingly randomly, doing what looked like nothing. There were a few clover flowers in the area, but he paid them no mind. Frequently, he’d land on the ground and walk around, climbing a blade of grass until it bent to the ground under his weight, then doing it again.

He trudged along, still not appearing to do anything. Sometimes, while on the ground, he took his front legs and swept them over his head and wings. After a long survey of the grassy area, he flew into a large stand of leafy flowering plants that had not yet bloomed. In and out of the tall leaves he flew, still not appearing to be reaching any sort of goal.

I worried I would not get a lesson from this gentle mentor and that I’d have to go into my evaluation without any inspiration, so I made up stories about what he might be doing since I could not figure it out and could not remember ever learning a single thing about bumblebee behavior.

I told myself he was using information left behind by his peers to get to a destination that may still be hours or days away and that I might never know what it was he was seeking. That said, I began to write down the lessons I had learned.