Day One Hundred & Four - Luck?

I came to my tent, on the other side, to find a bright green praying mantis making its home right beside the opening of my tent. My first reaction was to panic. I thought to myself how on earth am I supposed to get into my tent now!? Then I remembered that I was once told that a praying mantus is a sign of good fortune. I calmed myself down. Looks at it for another minute, then slipped into my tent quickly while trying to prevent the praying mantus from crawling on me. It may be good luck but I certainly do not want it on my body.

These are not my words but I found them quite interesting...

The mantis comes to us when we need peace, quiet and calm in our lives. Usually the mantis makes an appearance when we've flooded our lives with so much business, activity, or chaos that we can no longer hear the still small voice within us because of the external din we've created.

After observing this creature for any length of time you can see why the symbolism of the praying mantis deals with stillness and patience. The mantis takes her time, and lives her life at her own silent pace.

Stillness. Awareness. Creativity. Patience. Mindful. Calm. Balance. Intuition.

These traits have lead the mantis to be a symbol of meditation and contemplation. In Africa, a praying mantis is thought to bring good luck to whomever it lands on and even restore life to the dead. The Bushmen of Africa believe the praying mantis is a divine messenger and whenever one is seen, diviners try to determine the current message.

The mantis never makes a move unless she is 100% positive it is the right thing for her to do. This is a message to us to contemplate and be sure our minds and souls all agree together about the choices we are making in our lives.

Overwhelmingly in most cultures the mantis is a symbol of stillness. As such, she is an ambassador from the animal kingdom giving testimony to the benefits of meditation, and calming our minds.

An appearance from the mantis is a message to be still, go within, meditate, get quite and reach a place of calm. It may also a sign for you to be more mindful of the choices you are making and confirm that these choices are congruent.

Later on in the evening, I made my way to the bathroom, opened the stall door only to be attacked by an unsuspecting insect. After I spent 20 seconds freaking out and thrashing my hair about to make sure it was no longer on my head, I looked down to find a praying mantis on the floor. Dead. By accident, I killed it. Now considering the first half of this post does this mean that I counteracted the good fortune the previous praying mantus on my tent had given me. Maybe this was the praying mantis that was on my tent. Maybe its superstition, maybe praying mantis' really do bring good fortune, who knows. Either way they are an interesting insect and represents something to ponder.