My Zen Moment with a Hornet
This past weekend, I had a humbling experience with a hornet. While I wasn't physically harmed, my ego took a sting.
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As I made myself comfortable on my screened porch, I noticed a hornet walking along the wood railing directly in front of me. My first reaction was to let out a small scream, and I debated grabbing the fly swatter and cleaning spray for good measure. However, the hornet did not even acknowledge my arrival; he simply continued on his journey across the railing. In that moment, I decided to do nothing except sit and meditate.
The hornet was strictly focusing on the task at hand: finding a path that would set him free from the porch. He was moving ever-so slowly, feeling his way around every crevice. He didn't pay any attention to me or my curious cat, although would occasionally become so still I thought he had died. As I sat there watching him, I realized something: his main objective wasn't to attack me. He was simply focusing on his needs, which most likely were rooted in survival. However of course, my first thought when I saw him was that:
He will undoubtedly attack and sting me;
All hornets are a-holes that only exist to cause harm;
Why-oh-why am I the poor victim whose porch he decided to infiltrate?
In reality though, none of that was true. I created this story on countless of occasions. My ego immediately took the front seat and made everything personal: this creature exists purely for my own misery. How often do we do that in our day-to-day lives? Like when the driver passes you on the highway, or the person in the grocery store bumps into you. More likely than not, their main objective wasn't, "My main goal today is to make _____ miserable and ruin their life." Instead, we all have our different realities: maybe the person who sped past you just received heartbreaking news that a loved one was admitted into the hospital. Or perhaps the person who accidentally bumped into you is so exhausted from working three different jobs, and truly didn't see you during their tired trek through the grocery store. The point is, we have a tendency to make things personal. We allow our ego to waste precious energy on creating stories. Going forward, I will recognize when my ego is jumping to conclusions, and instead just allow whatever the situation is to just be.
Hornet, thank you for the reminder to not take things personally. And an extra dose of gratitude for not attacking me like my ego thought you would.