Reduce busyness: lessons from the honey bee

Celebrate World Bee Day 2020 on 20 May. What can you learn from the honey bee to improve your life?

On 20 May, it is time to celebrate World Bee Day. Bees have always been close to my heart as my name, Melissa, means “Honey Bee”. Honey bees are very interesting creatures and some of the more notable facts are:

- They build these wonderful hive creations with intricate hexagonal features

- Ruled by a Queen bee and they have a matriarchal society. The female bees are worker bees and they go out and about transferring pollen and nectar. Then there are the drones, the male bees, and several 100 of these live in the hive and only go out when they need to leave during winter. Their sole purpose is to mate with the new queen

- Surprisingly bees don’t have the aerodynamics to fly, however, with beating their wings 230 times per second, this propels those worker bees to travel long distances

- They also share a passion for dancing like I do. When they find an abundant food source, the worker bee returns to the hive to perform a dance called the “waggle dance” that is like a figure of eight and points its body to indicate to the other bees the location of the food source

- Teamwork makes the dreamwork is also their motto. All bees have a role to play and contribute to the greater goal of fiercely protecting the Queen bee

- They understand balance too with rest featuring in their day. The worker bees will go out for 2-12 hours but they always fit in relaxation once night falls.

It’s unfortunately a sad state of affairs for these beautiful buzzing insects with an enormous amount of bees disappearing year upon year facing extinction. There’s a number of ways you can help save the bees and go here if you would like to know how you can take action.

My view is modern day life can learn a lot from the bees including:

There are many people who continuously work extreme hours every day and once their done with their work day, you can then see them at the gym or pounding the footpath fitting in their exercise but leaving very little time to just be and relax. People are pushing the limits to do more and more as they chase elusive rewards and forgetting to stop and smell the roses. If people don’t slow down, bees won’t be the only thing disappearing. The 8 hour work day came from the Industrial Revolution which is over 200 years old now and is ineffective in this day and age. It was created for people who worked in factories. In the modern workplace, there appears to be this overwhelming need for busyness and the words “I’m too busy” uttered every day. It’s monotonous, just like the bee’s buzz. However, the difference with bees is that they spend time relaxing once the sun goes down. How do we remove a culture of busy? There is a belief that we must work hard to achieve and often making things too complicated and the simplest answer is the one that works best.

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. Confucius

Li Ching-Yuen was said to have been the longest living human, living to 256 years of age. His secret to longevity was maintaining an inward calm and peace of mind using breathing techniques. He was quoted as saying “Keep a quiet heart, sit like a tortoise, walk sprightly like a pigeon, and sleep like a dog.”

With all of the technological advancement, we need to see a return to balance for people to have more relaxation time for themselves and to spend time with the most important people in their lives. The bees demonstrate community spirit and we need to see people coming together and being more social during their day, for example, long lunches with family and friends like the Italians or social gatherings at the Teahouses of China. Research is showing the significant health benefits for people when they have relationships that span decades.

Artificial Intelligence and robotics are turning businesses and jobs upside down, it’s about time that people’s lives are also considered and we get back to connection and balance in life. Out of the global pandemic we are seeing the good slow down impacts e.g. more rest and the natural environment improving and there are many stories of people reconnecting with their families and loved ones. Now is the time to continue the investment in relationships.

The honey and sweetness of life is found within ourselves and our relationships.

Celebrate the bees on 20 May and seek ways to reduce your busyness.

Find out more tips to reduce busyness in your life with this short video.

Here's to living your best life!

Melissa Taylor

Future Transcendence Leadership Mentor

Author of A Practical Guide to Finding Your Soul Purpose