“Don’t spend your time chasing butterflies. Build your garden and the butterflies will come to you.”

The human tendency is to chase things of desire to gain external validation. This pursuit often becomes frantic and anxiety-driven which ruins our peace and diminishes our individuality and self-worth. Butterflies symbolize the things we pursue such as money, power, success, admiration, love, happiness, recognition and so on. The more we try to chase them, the harder it is to catch them. This pursuit then defines us more on what we lack rather than what we are building. The garden represents our inner environment such as values, habits, character, compassion, honesty, curiosity, creativity and so on. This is the space we cultivate rather than chase. A garden needs to be nurtured which requires so much of planning, efforts and patience for it to grow. It tells us that beauty that is emerged from this cultivation is not forced but grown because of tending it with care. We should take care of ourselves to build our own beautiful garden.

The metaphor implies a shift from control to cultivation. Most of us have the idea that fulfilment arises from pursuing external rewards but we fail to cultivate our inner qualities that naturally attract what we seek. We should invite self-development into our lives because it reaps exceptional results. When we flourish inwardly, we are already on a great path to success. We have to focus on ourselves to be the kind of a person capable of creating a foundation to one’s life which is fabricated from self-development, self-worth, hard work, efforts and values. When you focus on your craft, the outcome-like a butterfly- arrives as a byproduct. This is beautiful because we don’t seek external desires rather we attract what is meant for us. We are not running for beauty in our life, we are creating a beautiful life on our own terms.

I love this saying because it has such a deep meaning to it. It encourages a life which is anchored with self-cultivation, patience and internal growth that automatically gives you a higher self of individuality. Our society lacks this sense of individuality because people live on self-comparison, desperation, jealousy and chasing validation but what we need to do is be brave enough to believe in ourselves first. It all starts with you and how you want to shape your life. The modern world is obsessed with achievement, societal approval, success and constant pursuit so who are you as a person in the world that is becoming?