A lesson from catching a fly

Have you ever done this: There was a fly, a huge one, hitting the ceiling and windows in my kitchen, trying to get out into a beautiful spring night.

Oh my, I thought, this guy needs help. So I took a clear plastic container with a lid, and tried to target the fly. I tried to understand how he flew, only to see him escape at the last second. Then I waited until he sat down, only to see him tale of when I came close. I tried to understand his preferences, where he lies to land, but as soon as I thought I had understood, he changed his mind.

We went on like  this for a  while, me with my best intentions to climb on kitchen chairs and sinks to help a captured fly out of his prison, him being scared of everything that approached him ( how was he supposed to know the difference between a safe cage and a swat?)

Eventually, I was close to giving up: There was no way that I could understand the fly, and there was no way that the fly would every trust me and come to me by itself.

It was at this moment, when I gave up on everything I had ever learned about capturing flies (my family is big on catching them, not swatting them), that I made a bold move: I took the clear container in one hand and the lid in the other and, without thinking, caught him in full – well – fly.

Good Job! I thought, and brought him outside. But then I realized that I had only been successful because I had given up on everything I had learned, set an intention and then trusted my gut.

The lesson?

Preparing for what we have in mind can be good and important. But when observation shows us that things aren’t working out, we might have to let go of what we know, set a positive intention and trust that it will be OK.

We all have an inner knowing about who we are and what we are capable of that can sometimes get hindered by being overly concerned and over planned.

Setting an intention, connecting with the positive outcome, and then letting go of how we get there helps us to access our inner abilities and creates our goal in surprising ways.

I would have never thought I would be able to catch a fly in full fly, but … voila, it worked.

It was good to see him take of into the sunset. He was truly huge and I am sure he will have a great summer!