Why our pet praying Mantis is a great teacher of mindfulness

I was looking last year for a new pet my son. A few months prior my cat had passed away, God bless her, 21 1/2 years old. I have always taking great care of my pets and learned everything I could about them and their care.
I was worried at first that my son would overpower this little creature with his clumsy hands, like a bull in a china shop. I thought that was the time he would learn how to be mindful and care for this little insect is very spindly legs, not even the length of his finger.
Because he is only seven years old, my son, I need to care for the mesh enclosure, that Sandy calls home, make sure that it has feeder flies, and just generally remind him about caring for her, including taking her out to play with her.

Lately, I don’t even need to remind him to take her out to play, I have to remind him more to put her back and let her rest. Sandy is his third praying mantis. When you get praying mantises, they come, mail order, and two come, in case one loses its life during shipping the long way to your house, or for whatever reason. Praying mantis nymphs are pretty small. They are fast growing, and we have had numerous molts.

For this current, praying mantis, I ordered a native species from the United States. His previous praying mantis was a Chinese mantis an invasive species. I wanted to see what would be different in terms of personality or care. Even though this is my son’s pet, it has become my own too, because I want it to last for as long as it can, so I need to step in and make sure it gets the care that it needs. He is doing a pretty good job though I have to say.
Because the praying mantis is in a netted cage on the edge of my kitchen counter, it is a really nice place for me to just chill by the window, facing my backyard, and meditate and focus on the things that I need to do during the day. I am being mindful. I am also focusing in on a very small animal that is very mindful of every move that it makes. It sits there with its forearms enough vent position, ready to punch out at a fly, if it should cross her path. Because these lips are so small, you can’t see with the bear eye very easily that they were spikes at the bottom of the elbow joint. These are pretty good at packing and even more deadly punch when she finds her prey. Sean has watched her eat flies numerous times. She is very careful at how she goes about it and doesn’t just clumsily go about punching and wasting energy. She is very focused and wait her turn. A time she will even sit there swaying back-and-forth. It’s like she was trying to imitate a branch blowing in the breeze, and it’s so relaxing.

Sean has really built his confidence a lot with this little animal, or bug if you will, and he is able to have conversations with people about it when he never would’ve talked to them before. Having anxiety, he needed something in common to go beyond just the Cars that he would only talk about. This praying mantis has really given him a whole New World. He was very excited this morning to prepare Sandy for her trip to school. I included a couple of moldings in boxes, some photographs, and pieces that came in a discovery kit, showing the lifecycle of the pre-mantis. He will be like a science teacher today, I just know it, I wish I were a fly on the wall. Or maybe not really knowing there’s a praying mantis in the room…

Sandy is more independent than the other two praying mantises who loved being held and carried around. Sandy prefers to climb up your arm to be at the highest point. It’s difficult to get her to let go and be released into her cage. I’m not sure that it’s that she doesn’t want to go home or that she just wants to climb to the highest point. Either way, she’s a pretty cool animal and how she is able to move so nimbly like an animal, not like a clumsy bug.

When I just sit and watch her in Zen mode, not planning or organizing anything, I watch her head tilt to watch things around her in every direction. She has pretty good control of her head, and her little eyes look like alien eyes.
Do praying mantis is a very calculating predator, but when it is so small, it is really fascinating to watch and very Zen. It really teaches me of being mindful of every move that I missed. Especially with MS, I need to conserve my energy as possible and get as much done as I can in my day. I just never really thought about how a little bug could teach us so much about ourselves and being mindful. It doesn’t really matter how big or small you are, we are all gods creatures in every shape and size. And we are all amazing in the things that we can do with what little we have. Thanks Sandy.