Think About It Thursday: Think About The Other Person.
Yesterday, on a training hike at Folsom Lake, I saw this butterfly flitting around on a plant. I stopped and knelt down…trying to figure out what it was so frantic about.
I couldn’t tell what was going on… however, if you’ve followed my posts for a while, you’re likely to know I got curious about the butterfly’s behavior.
I noticed it was frenetic and jumping around… and then it would fully stop for a moment here and there.
After I stopped this video and slowly walked by, so as not to disturb the butterfly’s activities, it jumped onto the trail and did another little “flit about” and then flew to the next plant.
Strange behavior to me.
Perhaps totally normal to the butterfly.
It got me thinking about putting myself in the other person’s shoes and doing my best to lean into empathy and compassion.
It reminded me to be an active listener and pay attention.
As we got back to the car, I was like “Oh, gosh, I hope that wasn’t like some ritual before death.” Yeah, my imagination runs toward the macabre (my formal education IS in criminal psychology after all!).
You’ll be glad to know that I read up on it, and this butterfly was not likely on its way to dying (other than in that “we all have that terminus down the road” sort of way)… and that makes my heart happy.