Wherever You Go, There You Are

July 19, 2025

“Passions, resistance, danger, are educators. We acquire the strength we have overcome.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life (1860, Houghton, Mifflin and Co.)

 

 

A memory from when I was about 4 years old has never left me. It was during preschool recess, when I came upon a cocoon attached to a tree branch. Even at that young age I knew this cocoon was the container that a caterpillar creates to encase itself in order to transform into a butterfly. Curious as to the process, I poked the tiny structure with a stick, to peek inside. A multicolored goo spilled out of the broken cocoon and I immediately realized my action had stopped this creature’s life cycle in its tracks. The butterfly who was meant to one day fly free out of that cocoon would never be. I felt a deep pang of guilt that has stayed with me to this day, even while forgiving my childhood ignorance and curiosity.

Jump ahead to the present, when I recently discovered a YouTube video on the SciShow channel titled, “Butterflies Shouldn’t Remember Being Caterpillars (But They Do)”.

The video described a 2023 study which determined that when caterpillars enter the pupal/cocoon stage and melt their entire bodies into goo, none of the neural connections responsible for memories survive. During this process (known as metamorphosis), everything physical is melted down and reformed. These results should indicate that a butterfly emerging from the pupal stage would have absolutely no memory of its time living as a caterpillar. However, previous research of moths undergoing metamorphosis has shown that memories can survive.

A 2008 study out of Georgetown University (link here) proved that moths and butterflies, even after undergoing complete metamorphosis, can remember what they learned as caterpillars. These memories are stored somewhere other than the physical, neural structure of a brain. So how are they retained?

My belief is that we are more than our physical mind. Our sense of self is made up of more than brain tissue and neural connections. Many of our memories are retained via something beyond what can currently be explained by the physical.

Have you ever encountered someone or something that seemed familiar but you can’t explain why? Do you often have an intuitive sense that you should or should not take a particular action? Have you ever had a dream that seemed to be more of a memory than mere nighttime entertainment?

Perhaps there is more to us than the current organization of cells that we identify as earthly life. Call it an essence, a spirit, a soul or something else. Our physical bodies will eventually undergo the metamorphosis referred to as “death”. Whatever new form we end up taking, my guess is that our indelible essence will remain, just as the butterfly’s memories live on through its transformations.

Current events can make it seem that the ground is melting under our feet. With so much cruelty, hate and fear appearing to dissolve the very foundations of democracy, staying connected to the love within can be a challenge.

Losing a loved one or contemplating our own mortality can also raise questions that can cause us to feel a fear of the unknown.

I’ve embedded the YouTube video about butterfly memories here below. Watch it whenever you need a reminder that, even through intense and dramatic change, our truth remains and is never lost.

 

 

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Whenever you need to connect to the simplicity of play, mix up a batch of Squeezable Scented Therapy Dough.

 

Squeezable Scented Therapy Dough
Therapy dough can assist with developing grip strength, encouraging ideas, sparking creativity. The delicate scent of essential oils can boost mood and help with memory retention. It also makes a fun little gift. You probably have most or all of these ingredients in your kitchen or medicine cabinet. Store your therapy dough in a tightly covered glass or food-safe plastic container.

 

Ingredients for one batch.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup non-iodized salt
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon canola oil (1 & 1/2 TBL for cocoa-scented version)
1 cup water
Food coloring (plant based)
10 to 20 drops essential oil (suggestions below)

Parchment paper, plastic gloves and plastic wrap, to cool, knead and wrap dough

Small containers to store finished therapy dough (4oz to 8oz)

 

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, without turning on heat, combine flour, salt and cream of tartar. Stir to mix.

In a bowl, combine oil, water and food coloring. You can add the food coloring a bit at a time until you get your preferred color. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the saucepan and stir until smooth and free of lumps.

Cook mixture over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly and scraping bottom of pan as you go. When mixture pulls away from pan, scrape it into a ball and remove from pan to some parchment paper to cool.

After dough has cooled a bit, knead for a minute or so until elastic and smooth.

You can add essential oils at this point. Flatten dough into a thick disc and poke several shallow holes across disc to sprinkle drops of essential oil into. Fold over and knead until scent is uniformly mixed in.

Roll dough into 1 or 2 balls, wrap in plastic wrap and place in a container with a tightly-sealed lid.

 

Here are the scents I’ve made:

Peppermint/Vanilla (used green and blue food colors)
Mandarin/Honey (used red and yellow colors, to make orange)
Cocoa/Vanilla (special instructions for this variation below)

Cocoa Vanilla Therapy Dough:

Instead of 1 cup flour, use 3/8 cup flour + 1/8 cup cocoa powder.
When adding essential oil, add up to 10 drops of vanilla essential oil.
You’ll want to use 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of canola oil, instead of just one.
You may not need any food colors, as the cocoa lends its own color. If desired, the combination of red and green makes brown. A drop or two of blue can change the hue, if desired.

 

 

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