A Flock of Ladybugs

Ladybugs are flocking in the air this warm autumn day. One alights on my body every minute or two, stays a few seconds, and then takes off again. Open the door to go outdoors and a ladybug or two fly into the house.

Ladybugs are beneficial insects because they eat aphids and scale, which seem to show up on my houseplants about mid-winter.

What if we developed our own beneficial qualities? Which ones would you choose? My top 3 are patience, kindness, and skillful speech.  Generosity, compassion, voluntary simplicity, calmness, tolerance, gratitude, joy are other possibilities.

Let's develop a beneficial quality and watch it "eat up" frustration, annoyance, bother, anticipation, or desire--whatever the "pest" in your mind might be.

Today, the air is thick with ladybugs.

Lacewings

The lacewing is a beneficial insect that eats aphids. I particularly love the lacewings' diaphanous green fairy wings.

The larvae of the lacewing pile the sucked dry aphid carcasses on to their backs to disguise themselves from being prey to larger insects. What if we piled on to ourselves our flakes of dead skin, our fingernail parings, and the remains of our dinners?

Lacewing larva, covered with aphid carcasses

These things, which we once called "mine," are no longer mine. My fingernails: cut and gone. My hair becomes stray hairs on the pillow or in the sink and are no longer mine. The food we eat is, 24 hours later, flushed down the toilet. It was "me" a minute ago, and now it is not.

We could carry all this detritus around with us. Or we could realize that our entire body, as stable as it seems, is constantly in motion--breath, blood, digestion. Although we can feel the motion in the breath and in our pulse, we still feel fairly stable. Meanwhile, everything is changing.

I love the lacewing, which, having gone through its metamorphosis, appears to be light as air.