I had not really considered that there was a bee totem until just a few days ago. I’m not sure why it occurred to me to even look it up. Well, that is not entirely true because I was meditating on a frame of mind that I have been in when a bee caught my attention and kept it much longer than it normally would. That is when it occurred to me to see if there was a message from our busy little bee friends. I should have known that there would be and it would appear that the bee that caught my attention was maybe more than just a slight coincidence.
Bees will often be associated with fertility in different cultures but there is more to learn from them. They talk to us about drinking from the honey of life and that can take many forms. Several cultures through out the centuries have looked at the bee as a creature that can accomplish the impossible. Their bodies are so much bigger than their wingspans so it should be impossible for them to fly and yet they do. Scientists have discovered that they move their wings so fast that flying does become possible.
I think it would be difficult to come up with many of nature’s creatures that are as productive as honey bees are. So, another message from them is about productivity. Are we doing everything that we can to make our lives more fertile? That could encompass producing a good income or healthy relationships, it depends on our own situation when bee comes to us. Are we busy enough or too busy? Are we taking time to savor the honey of our lives or are we too busy working to take the time for some delicious nectar? Brother Bee reminds us that taking time to enjoy our labors and activities make them sweeter and more productive when we take some time to enjoy them.
This really hit home for me once I started to learn about the message of bee and the medicine he wanted to share with me right now. It might resonate with you, too. That frame of mind that I mentioned earlier was one of feeling that maybe my work was all for naught. Maybe I was just fooling myself and that the busyness of the work I have done for the last several years was just a waste of time. Suddenly through some changes that I do not have much control over, my confidence was at a pretty low level and I was ready to give up. And then I watched that bee!
What I realized was that I had been busy, very busy, but I was not really enjoying what I was doing anymore. I enjoyed the income that it was producing but not necessarily the activity. What was I going to do? Chuck it all and start over? Oh goodness that was a scary thought! The message of taking time to enjoy my labors and to drink from the honey it produced suddenly made so much sense. It wasn’t the work itself it was the approach I had taken in the last couple of years. I had stopped doing it the way I love to do it and started to just “work at it” without joy or even creativity. Now I understand that I can continue with my work, I just have to get back to my roots and perform the job with more “me” in it and only concentrate on doing it with joy in my heart. If I don’t love it, then it won’t be a part of the work any longer. I won’t keep busy for the sake of keeping busy because that is just not productive in the long run.
That bee buzzed into my vision and literally lifted my spirit and got me back on track for my dream. The fulfillment of the dream did not seem impossible like it did just minutes before. If the bee can fly when he should not be able to, then I can reach my goals and dreams, too. I just need to pursue it in a smarter and more productive way.