What’s Up With the Ladybug?

“Listen, when I was a little girl, I used to spend hours looking for ladybugs. Finally, I’d just give up and fall asleep in the grass. When I woke up, they were crawling all over me.”

I love this line from the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. It’s a reminder that sometimes, when we want something desperately, instead of striving and begging, the best course of action is to quiet ourselves and let it come to us.*

Ladybugs also delight me. They’re always a surprise. You’re out in a park or your own backyard, and you look down, and there’s this sweet little thing tickling your hand. You stop for a moment, and the world stops around you. For a few precious moments, your whole focus goes to watching that bug, feeling its presence, taking in its simple beauty.

As I considered different logos for 52Nudges, my first instinct was to go with a bird being nudged out of its nest, but the images I found were either too cute or slightly violent (yikes!). A butterfly seemed the obvious choice: transformation, breaking out of a shell, spreading my wings. But I wasn’t feeling it, and I kept thinking about the ladybug. Curious, I looked up the symbolism at World Birds and discovered ladybugs represent “good fortune, true love…the right choices in life…and the time of the fruition of your dreams and wishes.” “When you encounter a ladybug spirit animal,” I learned, “you can be sure that positive transformations are on the way.”

Positive transformations are on the way.

That feels just right, so ladybug it is.

From past rounds of nudges, I know that I will be surprised by what I draw each Sunday, and that many of the Ah-hahs that come from those nudges will delight and inspire me. I’m excited to see what the 52Nudges 3.0 experience will bring into my life. We start December 12. Won’t you join me?

*In the movie, after Frances follows Katherine’s advice in the quote above, she returns to report: “Ladybugs, Katherine. Lots and lots of ladybugs….”