What a small bee taught me about living through a crisis
A small act of kindness, a great lesson on recovery
One morning, I came into the kitchen and noticed a small bee laying on its back on the kitchen floor. I thought it was dead but no, it slightly moved its legs when I touched it, although it was more dead than alive. I turned it around and tended my hand, trying to get it to climb on my finger, but the poor bee was too weak and could not stand on its feet.
My 101 instinct was immediately activated : I placed the bee in the palm of my hand and offered it some drops of sugar water. The little bee started drinking immediately. This brought my hopes up. I held it in my hand, caring for it, sending it love and energy.
After half an hour, it still fell over yet it started to clean its face, its antenna, its front legs than its back legs. And then it would sit still again for a while and not move at all. I placed it on a dish with some more sugar water and tended to something else. I came back after an hour and placed it back in the palm of my hand. It hardly moved, I gave it some sugar water again and it drank some.
I expressed how grateful I was for her, for the gift she was to the world and the essential task she fulfilled for all of life, and all at once she started to wake up and move around on my hand. Wow, was that a coincidence?
She fell on her back again. This time I observed her before trying to set her straight again and I noticed an interesting thing. She seemed quite comfortable on her back and continued to clean her face, her antenna, her front legs, than her four back legs. I said to myself: Isn’t that interesting? Here she is, half dead, yet however now more alive than an hour or two before, and she is taking care of herself as if she is preparing and getting herself ready for the moment she is totally recovered. This little bee must know that all will be well and she is doing what she can right now, what is in her power right now.
I noticed she had not touched her wings yet. Another half hour later, I saw the sun was out, although there was much wind, and I brought her outside in the sun. She was blown of my hand so I put her back. She was not ready to fly yet. I then placed her on the table in the sun. She continued to clean her legs and antenna. She was still a bit fragile on her legs, but it was improving. When she fell still, I gave her some more sugar water. She drank again and now I noticed a difference. She looked like she had bridged the gap and made her full toilet once more, this time also including her wings in the process. She pooped and this seemed her sign to determine she was ready and had filled up. She made a first attempt to fly and landed on my trousers. I tended my hand and she climbed on my finger. And then she spread her wings and flew away confidently in the air, leaving me in awe, humbled, and grateful realising I had saved her.
Reflecting on this experience, I realised she had offered me seven invaluable leadership lessons on how to lead yourself in times of crisis - and I could easily also make a link with the teachings of John Maxwell:
Seven invaluable leadership lessons I learned from a little bee on how to lead yourself in times of crisis:
Tend the hand that is reached out to you when you are stuck - it is ok to accept help.
Tend to your vital needs first - take care of you. What do you need most right now? Focus on that one thing
You may not know when you fully recover, when you get out of the crisis, but there is always something you can do right now, one small step that will help you get ready for when the time is there. Preparedness is key.
Some positions may feel unfamiliar and unnatural, but they may also offer advantages - just make the best of it and trust the process
Start with the low hanging fruit first, save the advanced parts for when you have more strength; there is no point in preparing your wings when you cannot stand upright first
Trust there will be someone around to believe in you and giving you the final little hand or word that puts fuel under your wings. Reach out to someone who will uplift you, who believes in you, who speaks belief into you, who can give you a hand when you need it most.
Trust that life force in you and keep going, you are better resourced than you might think, just take it one small step at a time.
What I also took home from this experience were the following realisations:
Kindness and compassion always pay off - this small deed gave me a huge return in terms of how it made me feel about having been able to make a difference: I saved a bee today!
Thanks to time on my hands, I have been able to tend to this little bee. Throughout this process, I reflected on her life and I concluded her life is of as much value to mine. She is a little miracle fulfilling an essential role for all of us. It is not size that matters, looking at her in the palm of my hand I was just thankful I was able to rescue her thanks to my size and awareness of her needs - yet what do we know of the intelligence and feelings of other life forms? Just because we don’t speak the same language, we assume they are not sentient or intelligent. Life is a miracle; the same life force flows through all of us and connects us with all life on Earth. By tuning in from my heart, I intuitively picked up on her needs - what if, indeed, love consciousness runs through all living things? I hope that as we grow more aware, we will collectively become better stewards of our beautiful, magical universe!
