Spiders always capture our attention with their “hidden” presence. Whether we spot them on walls or ceilings within our homes marveling at their intricate webs nearby, they never fail to intrigue us.
The webs they spin are designed to ensnare creatures much larger than the spiders themselves. Webs serve as a spider’s strategic tool, crafted to trap and immobilize unsuspecting insects for food. In their pristine state, many spider webs are almost invisible to the naked eye.
It is only when they gather dust and debris on walls that they become apparent, demanding immediate attention and cleaning. Sometimes, spider webs elude our notice when they exist outdoors unless the sunlight hits them at a specific angle. Paradoxically, many of us panic at the sight of a spider crawling near us on a wall, while the webs themselves rarely evoke the same fear.
What’s interesting, webs exist metaphorically in our lives as well, ready to trap and impede our progress. They possess a power akin to those spun by spiders, concealed within the intricacies of life itself.
But where are these webs in our lives? How do they manifest?
Persistently and without justification, our thoughts begin to weave intricate webs, much like the spider, trapping us without our conscious awareness. We begin to realize this when we find ourselves entangled in our thoughts, defiantly resisting change, ceasing to move forward, or convinced that we have nothing more to learn.
It seems absurd, doesn’t it? We are far larger than any web, endowed with greater power than a spider. As we possess the abilities to read, write, communicate, love, and care. We laugh, worry and cry. Yet cobwebs still can appear in our lives. When they conquer an abandoned house, they symbolize the absence of life. Surely our thoughts cannot do the same.
How do we create our own cobwebs?
Sometimes it is our deeply held beliefs that hold us back. We stubbornly cling to beliefs that contradict the information surrounding us, or worse, beliefs that no longer serve us. Our flawed logic often leads to incongruent conclusions. We remain stagnant in life because our thinking remains unchanged. The presence of cobwebs in our life indicates a lack of clarity of purpose, interest, energy, and intent that ultimately shuts us down. Leaving us both stagnant and helpless.
How can we break through our cobwebs?
First, we are bound to get them from time to time. For, of course, we are human. Surprisingly, intellectual humility placed side by side with perseverance, faith in ourselves, and curiosity can serve us well toward finding a way through all of this. Intellectual humility is born knowing that we may be wrong in what we are thinking (for no one is always right) or have made a mistake in judgment because we don’t know as much as we should.
Good friends make for a strong antibiotic when our lives are trapped by our own cobwebs. Both when they give us their gift of deep listening, concern, and interest in our well-being. Challenging us in conversation to find a way to begin to think about things differently. In an environment that is non-judgmental and safe for us to share our feelings and thoughts openly.
Having a strong belief in the goodness of a higher power within our life, when our attitude remains positive, when our determination to persevere is unwavering, when we are open to listening and learning when we harness effort as our most potent tool, and patience as our strongest ally, we no longer require a broom. Cobwebs can cease to exist in our lives, and our thinking can become remarkably clear.
Another way to accomplish this is to understand there is a fluidity to life that is important for us to accept for life ebbs and flows. Being open to life’s journey and understanding this keeps us nimble, alert, and open to change. Always challenged by the newness we encounter in our days, making it very hard for cobwebs to exist in our lives, for they are much too fragile.