Fly Like a Butterfly and Sting Like a Bee

As social beings, we’re told that we should define ourselves, express our opinions, fight, make our presence known…that we should live life to the max.

But how can anyone do this if they don’t even know themselves? How is it possible to go through life both consistently and originally at the same time? What should we involve ourselves in and what should we leave behind?

Muhammed Ali said, referring to the way he boxed, that “I flew like a butterfly and I stung like a bee.” This referred not only to his attitude in the ring, but also to his attitude towards life.

“The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.”

-Ernest Hemingway-

Ali believed that in his career as a boxer and in his personal life, he should adopt a synchronized and gentle sense of movement, with rhythm but without forcing the tempo.

He believed that he should learn from every life experience and integrate it into his way of being, but without forcing himself to internalize something that wasn’t clear in its reasoning or its way of being.

But this, contrary to what we’re taught, is not indecisiveness, weakness of character, or indifference towards others.

It’s more about an internal struggle that you should work through with time and care, until you can make valid conclusions about yourself.

Only in this way will we fly like a butterfly, observing, registering, and analyzing the different situations that happen around us. So later, we can feel accurate and passionate during important and decisive moments.

And we’ll sting like a bee, with good aim, without causing harm but with certainty about our mission.

How to have a good attitude

Flying like a butterfly and stinging like a bee is a way of living that frees us from mental pressure.

It calls us to fulfill our passion, the reason why we are really here. We can only know it if we’ve really paid attention to our own history and calling.

To be able to live this way, just like in boxing, you should follow a series of recommendations and advice:

Choose your battles carefully

Don’t dedicate yourself to battles that are going to take too much energy from you and won’t give you any answers. Although you believe that fighting for a specific cause is what’s just, you should ask yourself if you can be useful, revolutionary, and consistent with it.

If you doubt yourself on any of these points, it’s better to not involve yourself in that fight,  because some external fights can turn into a battle against yourself.

Distance yourself, but stay alert in case your help could be useful at some point. Remember, be a butterfly.

Follow your passions; don’t just set goals

If you choose a passion in life and put all your determination towards achieving and maintaining it, the points you’ll focus on will be more like a prize to win than a sacrifice of the things you have to give up.

Be a butterfly, see your objectives clearly.

Your goals will never be enough if your passion is great and sincere. Focus on short-term goals, but outline your main long-term goals. That way you will be able to keep your hopes up.

Go get them, achieve them. Be like a bee.

Don’t make your life a display of victimization or grandeur

Just be yourself, lacking some skills, sort of talented in others, and extraordinarily skilled in other ways.

Use the lessons you’ve learned throughout life as a reference instead of trying to teach them to other people. Only in this way can you make valid conclusions for yourself without trying to have them validated by the rest of the world.

Define yourself as individual, but empathetic at the same time.

Shine with your own light, and then you will be a butterfly and a bee without even realizing it.