Your ‘Gold Butterfly’ Life Message?

Life sends me messages day and night. Slowly, I’ve begun to learn the unique language in which life speaks to my heart. I help my clients to do the same. When I notice a life message that’s right in front of them, I ask a follow up question. Often, they’ve missed a big clue to their urgent concern or challenge. This gift, tailored to each individual, is what I’m now calling, a ‘gold butterfly.’ Here’s why:

The Set Up

My husband and I had new carpet installed in our small living room. It’s the only downstairs space that’s carpeted, and we decided to test out this room before upgrading the whole upstairs.

Thank God we did! The outgassing from one room of new carpeting made all of us (husband, wife, and cat) sick. We had headaches. My body went into fight-or-flight and would tremble if I went downstairs. Our cat was hangdog.

Bit by bit, we found ways to address the troublesome toxic fumes. Besides opening windows and wedging in an outwards-blowing fan, we swept baking soda into the fibers to absorb odors. We vacuumed vigorously, and even borrowed a second air purifier to run both 24/7.

Life Message

At one point, I had to stay overnight with friends to take a break from the fumes. That night, I asked what life was trying to teach me about outgassing. I became the curious explorer: what were these toxic fumes teaching me about my own state of mind?

Was it an uncomfortable sleeping night? Yep. But by morning I had an answer. I needed to take more responsibility for an embarrassing habit. Without fully realizing it, I’d been engaging in gossip in two ways.

First, I’d been listening to a neighbor complain and blame others for a problem in her life. I was trying to be a compassionate listener, but every time we met, she got into a bad groove. So, I was not helping her (or me) by providing a listening ear.

Second, I’d been expressing negative opinions about a group of people whose behavior outraged me.  My inner critic had been outgassing.

I once heard a spiritual teacher describe gossip as poison. Just poison. He warned against indulging this habit or even being around those who do.

The Gold Butterfly

That morning at my friend’s house, I felt a bit vulnerable and disappointed in myself. How had I not caught this before life had to send such a dramatic message? I didn’t judge or punish myself as I’ve done in the past. But I did feel a little down.

Then, when I got out of bed, I discovered a gold butterfly ornament that I’d apparently been lying on all night. I had no idea where it came from—and neither did my friends! Though they recognized the butterfly as part of their collection, they couldn’t imagine how it got into the sheets of the guest bed.

For me, this gift required little interpretation. The butterfly was me, choosing a higher level of refinement. This life message confirmed that I was on the right track. The gold butterfly was a sweet reminder to be kind to myself as I transformed.

The Practical Remedy

Life always answers my questions in a practical sense, too. What was I learning in physical terms? That next day, my husband and I discovered a mineral called zeolite.  Among other things, it’s used for water treatment in aquariums, odor absorption in cat litter boxes, and toxic gas elimination in carpets.

When the zeolite arrived, we spread it on the carpet, worked it into the fibers, and waited an hour. With intensive vacuuming, 80-90% of the problem resolved.

[Note: For those of you who chant as part of your spiritual practice, you’ll get a laugh that I started chanting zeolite even before the product arrived. The word had special meaning for me. I wanted to experiment with cleaning up mental outgassing, and it worked!]

Your Tailor-Made Message?

Could a life message of support, healing, or encouragement be right in front of you now as you navigate your daily stressors? What might that be?

Any symbol, image, or sound that grabs our attention can be a gift just waiting to be received. Often, I find it’s best to decode through the heart rather than the mind. The mind can endlessly interpret, but the heart recognizes love instantly.

More about that in a future post. Meanwhile, let me know if you discover a gold butterfly in your midst.

Photo by Melanie Morales on Unsplash

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