Have you ever High-fived a Bumblebee?
Bees and wasps are ranked among the 25 Most Dangerous Insects in the World. In truth, most bee stings are pretty insignificant and 95% of the population are NOT allergic to stings. But, like the dreaded dandelion, bees often receive a mix of arm flaying, fear-driven curses and phobic responses from us two-legged. I have chosen to puff up alongside the allergic 5%. I never dreamed I would pet a bumblebee.
Our wounded ego portion of our minds, loves to conjure up our most fearful scenarios to try and convince us we are not safe, that at some point we will be attacked, so we better be on guard, which of course is a lie, but when the bumblebee crawled onto my hand, my mind used my lingering fears as power and flashed my angry wasp memory, like it was on a big screen TV in HD.
I had a soccer ball sized wasp nest in my greenhouse. I went to Billy for advice, since he had never been stung before. He nonchalantly said, “Oh, don’t worry, they won’t bother you, if you don’t bother them.” As I approached the wasp lair, I kept repeating with as much belief as I could, “I’m not afraid…It’s all good…I’m cool…Wait, where’s my epi pen? Do I have any Benadryl?”
I eased open the door and tip-toed to the lettuce patch. Out popped a wasp. He yelled out, “What do you think you’re doing here?” I whispered back, “No worries guy, I’ll do my thing and you do yours.” Just as I bent down to pick a leaf, the wasp bee-lined it for my hand and stung it before I could do the arm-waving defense procedure. (Which by the way doesn’t help, this frantic motion only causes more confusion for bees. Stay still, so the bee realizes you are not a gigantic swaying flower. For wasps intending to puncture you, you may need a force-field.) With my hand swelling to the size of a giant Mickey Mouse glove I ran back to Billy yelling, “They don’t like me BP. I’m not the wasp whisperer yet.” Billy took charge armed with a black garbage bag and moved the nest out of the greenhouse.
When I thought to touch her, I refused to let my ego darken the pure wonder and joy my heart felt. I commanded my mind to shut up, saying, “That wasp scenario is NOT playing out here.” And it didn’t. She gave me the gift of trust and a knowing that I can win the battle with my fear-based wounded ego and walk unafraid. What if allergies are really a metaphorical message from the subconscious to tell you about an underlying false, belief system you have about how safe you feel? And what if you discovered and understood the patterns caused by feeling unsafe and decided to change back your belief system to it’s pure form of fearlessness?
Meet the bumblebee who changed my life…