🕸️ The Artist at My Door: What I Learned from a Spider’s Web

A simple morning ritual sparked a profound realization about perception, gratitude, and finding beauty in life's small annoyances. What began as frustration with a persistent spider web across my doorway evolved into a daily practice of mindful appreciation.

Walking you through my morning routine—making coffee, preparing my reading materials, and stepping outside to enjoy my garden—I share how clearing away the inevitable spider web shifted from being an unwelcome disruption to becoming an integrated part of my ritual. The transformation wasn't in the web itself, but in how I chose to see it.

Today's revelation came when I paused to truly observe the web glistening in the sunlight—its intricate geometry, perfect symmetry, and the remarkable persistence of its creator who rebuilds this masterpiece daily without complaint. This spider doesn't create art for my appreciation; it's simply following its nature. Yet in doing so, it offers an unintended gift to those willing to notice.

This reflection touches on our tendency to project human qualities onto nature (like in Charlotte's Web) when perhaps there's equal power in appreciating nature on its own terms. I've learned to acknowledge my instinctive fear of spiders while transforming it into awe for their remarkable abilities. Though I still clear the web each morning, I now do so with reverence rather than irritation—a practice that extends beyond spider webs to how we might approach all of life's persistent challenges.

What daily frustrations might you reframe as opportunities for wonder? Join me in finding unexpected teachers in ordinary moments and discovering how shifting perspective can transform our experience of the world around us. Remember to live in the moment and find gratitude in the smallest details of your day.

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Chapters

• 0:47 Morning Intentions and Gratitude
• 1:47 The Ritual of Clearing Cobwebs
• 3:05 Finding Beauty in Nature's Persistence
• 4:11 Transforming Fear into Appreciation
• 6:28 Embracing Life's Subtle Lessons
• 6:48 Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Hey there, you know it's funny. I've been thinking a lot about intentions and gratitude. Obviously they come up a lot in the work that I do. And something occurred to me this morning as I kind of went through my morning ritual, and I'm just going to share it with you and see if it generates any insights for you. I'm still verbal processing here with you, which is kind of how I roll, but I guess I'm modeling, trusting the process. Ultimately, obviously, I have the control of whether or not I share this, but I'm going to set the intention to just go with it as a kind of free flow, if you are willing. So, as I said, every morning I go out with my coffee and walk around my garden with the intention of really taking it in and living in gratitude, which is not difficult to do at all here where I am, and I truly am appreciative. I can honor that, that I truly am appreciative every day. But here's the thing you know I make my coffee mindfully and I, you know, I foam the milk and I heat it up in the microwave and add my coffee, make my little latte, um, and you know, I get my basket, which has a book in it, and my glasses, so if I decide to stay and read on the dock. So it's all this little ritual, right? The cats have been fed. I haven't had breakfast yet.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Anyways, this is kind remembered back to the idea that, you know, I get all prepared and then I'd I'd step out of my door and I'd have to walk through a spiderweb, and I remember it used to well, it used to frustrate me, you know, it used to harshen my mellow. You know you set the intention in the kitchen and get all set up and step out into this glorious, you know beautiful world outside in nature and all ready to take it in. You know, all self-actualized, a spider web that gets caught on my face and maybe in my coffee, and I have to put my book down and peel my way out of it, and so on and so forth. And it's so funny because I feel differently about it today than I did before. And today, as I was clearing the cobweb, which is now part of my ritual, right, which is something that I like to do that I like to clear the space before I walk through it, as opposed to something that I had to do because it was annoying me and that was threatening to harsh on my mellow. You know, today I was doing it as part of my routine. I added it to what I do and I quite enjoy doing it.

Speaker 1: 3:53

Today I found myself getting fascinated by it. You know, I stepped outside my door and there's this cobweb. That's always there, and today I noticed how it was glistening in the sun and how intricate and beautifully symmetrical, geometrical, almost perfect in its execution. This spider had just created it seemingly from nowhere, simply from hard work, no artist in sight, and yet every morning I brush it away and it's a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece from my point of view, which, to the spider, is not a masterpiece at all, but rather a tool, something for survival, something to catch its prey.

Speaker 1: 4:46

When I started to do this in the first place, as I told you earlier, I did it out of fear, fear of seeing that artist spider, fear that it might hurt me. I mean, it's funny. It's funny our inherent fear of spiders, isn't it? Well, today I thought maybe the worry can be transformed into a kind of awe and that we can learn something from these incredible creatures that never give up, no matter how many times I wipe down their beautiful webs. It reminded me this morning of Charlotte's Web and I looked it up and smiled as I thought about that beautiful children's story by EB White that personified the spider, so that it was someone that we could relate to, something with feelings and worries.

Speaker 1: 5:36

But you know, nature doesn't have feelings like we do, and when we personify nature or project upon them, really we're doing it for our own comfort, aren't we? The spider just does what it does because, well, that's what it does. It's me that interprets its beauty and, in a way, that's the gift that it leaves unknowingly, and so I choose not to be afraid anymore. I can acknowledge my fear and I will still brush away its beautiful web because I want to keep my doorway clear, but not before I pause every morning and honor the awe and the gift that is nature. That's really all I've got for you today. You guys. I'm Lisa Hopkins. Thanks so much for listening. Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and remember to live in the moment.