Be the Bee

We all know what a common honeybee looks like buzzing around from flower to flower, little and cute with stripes and fuzz all over. I always chuckle when I see a little bee butt sticking out of a bloom, wriggling because the bee is so happy to be eating the sweetness of the flower. These little hard workers are important for so much and without them the world would be a pretty sad, depressing, and probably pretty grey place. Every since I was younger my mom always would use the bee as an analogy for us to use in our constant striving to be positive. To see the good in others, ourselves, the world around us….

The story my mom would tell us was about a fly and a honeybee. The fly flew through a huge meadow of beautiful fragrant flowers and found the one pile of poop. The bee however, flew through a big field of poop and grossness and was able to find the one lone flower in the midst of it all. It is all about mindset and what we want to find in everything around us. Do we want to look at everything and dissect it, finding all the faults OR are we going to search out those little grains of goodness in all the mess. It’s okay to get a bit messy here and there. That shows we are being real and not shirking away from the trials around us. How we face those trials and messes. That is the important part.

What are ways we can train ourselves to start looking out for the good in everything? How can we maybe change our previous mindset where we dissect everything and get discouraged by all the negatives? There are so many self help books out there about changing your mindset, seizing your destiny, etc. it’s so hard to know which one to pick up first. I know sometimes I get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. One of my biggest tips for you however, would be AWARENESS! Being aware of the thoughts going through your head and your mindset. Being aware of everything around you and how you look at all of it. The second big tip would be consciously making decisions. This goes perfectly with awareness! Being aware of what you are thinking and consciously making the decision if it is negative to change that mindset. Stop yourself in your thought process and say, “wait is that kind? Is that positive? Will that benefit the other person or myself in the long run?” Most times the answer is no to all of those if you are thinking with a negative mindset. Consciously decide to find the good in that situation. We are the creators of our own destiny so why not take control of our thoughts and how we view our surroundings!?

I have had people retort back and say, “We can’t look at everything through rose colored glasses, because that’s not realistic. Not everything is puppies, rainbows and unicorns Mikaela!” They are right actually. Not everything is puppies, rainbows and unicorns…. We have to be realistic, but at the same time we can be realistic and still find the good in things. They can be the little things that often enough get overlooked. Letting someone in front of you in line, having your friend pay for your meal, getting a hug when you really need one, but didn’t tell anyone. These are all small everyday acts we can all CONSCIOUSLY do and watch out for as well. We can be inspired by those small acts and pass them on. When we are inspired we then stop looking at the waves and mess of craziness all around us and find the sunbeams coming through the clouds. Yes life is a mess and so are we, but a glorious mess and that is what makes us unique. We all have good qualities in us, and it is just finding the way to bring those out not only in ourselves, but in others as well. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt before bashing them, because you don’t know what they are going through and/or you might not know the real them yet! They might not want to open up to you due to the fact they feel you already have made an assumption as to who they are. Don’t do that….. Be open, don’t make assumptions, look for the good qualities in EVERYONE and then try your best to help those qualities blossom and shine out into the world.

When someone says mess we all instantly think of that word with a negative connotation. Which, don’t get me wrong, makes total sense because most things titled as a mess do turn out to be like messy rooms, piles of garbage.. etc. So I personally know whenever I hear that word I 99.9 % of the time put a negative assumption on the situation. I have recently though found when people say life is a mess I have changed my thought process and think, “yes it is a mess, but a glorious mess!” We all are glorious messes, that’s what makes us unique. All our qualities mushed together to make us amazing humans. We get to decide which qualities we want to be our strongest. SO this is where my tips come back in! Let us CONSCIOUSLY choose our positive qualities to strengthen and BE AWARE of our qualities and how we act to those around us.

So let’s be like that little honeybee that searches out the beautiful flowers and sweetness in the midst of all the grossness around them. Let’s consciously search out the goodness in people and everything around us and then give those good qualities a positive and supportive place to flourish and grow. We all need that support from those around us, so make sure to be that support as well.

 

 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.     Psalm 27:13