Metaphor 66 in Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness is, “The Buzzing Fly.” The fly is a metaphor for all things bothersome, especially thoughts that keep buzzing around seeking attention; moving out of what appears to be kinetic randomness. How can we deal with the fly?

One option is to continue sitting and being annoyed, or tocontinue whooshing the fly away. Another is to expand the concept of your selfin that moment to include your experience of the fly. After all, the reason thefly is annoying is because you’ve got some embedded rule or belief that says,”This fly should not be present; it is disturbing my meditation. My meditationshould feel differently than it does now. It should be flyless.” If that beliefcan be revised to include the fly, there is no longer opposition and no longera problem. The revision eliminates the resistance.

“The Fly” is a wonderful animation by Hanjin Song that likewise turns to the fly as metaphor. It’s also a metaphor for resistance — what we resists, persists — and multiplies! It’s metaphor for reactivity and invites us to consider the question: “How do I want to spend my time and energy?”