Dragonfly Symbolism in My Life and Work

So, I had my first request for a topic.  Someone asked me to talk a bit about why I have an affinity for dragonflies, why there is one on my blog and why they are all over my office.....
Actually I want to go back to my childhood, my earliest recollections of dragonflies are of fear.  As a child I didn't know if they would hurt me like the other nasty flying bugs (mosquitoes and bees to name a couple) and so I avoided them.
Once I learned that they were harmless creatures I enjoyed watching them buzz around on a hot summer day as we swam and floated around on the lake at Circle Pines Center (my childhood summer camp).  They were silent and moved so smoothly, they were beautiful to watch.
As an adult I started seeing beautiful artistic renditions of dragonflies and found myself drawn to the stirring beauty and colors.  I started to collect pieces of art with dragonflies before I even knew about their significance.  I was mesmerized and didn't know why.
A client referred me to some websites that talked about how dragonflies are created, how they live and what meaning this has had in various cultures:

The meaning of a dragonfly changes with each culture. The main symbolisms of the dragonfly are renewal, positive force and the power of life in general.  Dragonflies can also be a symbol of the sense of self that comes with maturity. Also, as a creature of the wind, the dragonfly frequently represents change.  And as a dragonfly lives a short life, it knows it must live its life to the fullest with the short time it has – which is a lesson for all of us. 

There are many different representations of the dragonfly; it all comes down to which culture you happen to be in.  For instance, if you are in Japan, the dragonfly symbolizes a new light and joy. Some animal symbolism has the dragonfly representing good luck, prosperity, swiftness, purity, harmony and strength. Some Native Americans believe dragonflies are the souls of the dead. There are also many cultures that believe that the meaning of a dragonfly is happiness, courage and subconscious thoughts. It is also believed that if you see two dragonflies paired together that they represent love and maturity.    

The dragonfly has been a symbol of happiness, new beginnings and
change for many centuries and even though the representation of the dragonfly seems to change throughout the cultures, there are still a few things that are similar; the dragonfly means hope, change and love. 

For several years before reading this I had been thinking about the evolutionary nature of life.  How we are all in a process, oftentimes subconsciously moving towards growth and change.  Even when we feel hopeless and helpless about our lives, our subconscious is always moving forward.  Our subconscious always wants the best for us.  It wants health and happiness even when we aren't sure we do....even when we don't know what that  means ....even when we have given up hope.  I have always said to myself and my clients, "trust your process"....We don't always have to be working so hard at growth and change...sometimes when we work too hard at it, we get in our own way and slow things down.

I have seen in my own life how much I learn every day, every month and year.  I have seen how much I have been able to grow and learn and change.  Each step I have taken towards health has paid off no matter how big a step it was, it moved me forwards.

I was able to make so much emotional growth over the years that I actually felt a metamorphosis had occurred.  I had gone from darkness into light.  I had come into my own.  I found I could truly be the best person I wanted to be.

A dragonfly starts off in a tadpole-like state, underwater, in the dark, dependent on water for life.  As it matures it comes into the light and discovers the powers it has within its own nature.  

We all grow up in families, in cultures,  in a world full of experiences that impact us in one way or another.  This all shapes our view of the world and how we fit into it.  As children we have no control over what happens to us and often no power to change anything.  Our brains are not fully developed and we don't have enough life experience to make sense of it all.  As we grow into adults we bring all of that with us.  Some of it makes us happy and some of it leaves us feeling less than, incomplete, scared and hopeless.

Like dragonflies, we can come out of our tadpole state and step into the light and take flight.  It takes strength and work to make it from one form into the other.  We may need to ask for help from others to get there.  Therapists.  Spiritual thinkers.  Books.  Movies.  Friends.  Healers.  

All you need is the desire and the willingness to take the next step....into light.