The Beetle

I recently got back from a week-long vacation in San Diego where I let my worries roll away with the surf. This picture—taken on the Torrey Pines State Reserve coastal cliffs—sums up the trip; it was a week filled with peace, serenity, and the freedom to contemplate nature for as long as I wanted.

When the vacation ended—as they inevitably do—I worried that I wouldn’t be able to maintain my ‘vacation mentality.’ In Living Yoga by Chrisy Turlington (one of my very first books on yoga), she talks about how yoga is a “calming oasis.” The beautiful view of the Pacific from the cliffs reminded me of what I’d been missing for quite some time: a sense of calm and the idea that I knew what I wanted in life. So when I returned home to my “reality,” I rejected it. I wanted out of everything that reminded me of my non-vacation life.

Back at my house, as I begrudgingly unpacked my suitcase, I noticed a medium-sized black beetle crawling along the floor. My initial reaction was fear and disgust. Where had this come from? Why was it in my house? But something stopped me in my tracks. I knew the beetle meant something, especially because I’d never seen one in my house before. Sure enough, beetles represent transformation and spirituality. Among many other things, they remind us to be patient and trust in the process.

Is it unrealistic to expect that we can live our day-to-day lives “on vacation” the way yogis “live yoga” every day, even when they’re not in a studio? Can we wake up each morning excited at the possibility of what the day has in store for us? That’s a decision we have the opportunity to make each and every day. And when we forget, the universe sends us a little reminder to put us back on track. Sometimes it’s a little bug…and sometimes it’s a big one.