November 2024 Founder’s Corner: The Buzz of Gratitude: How Bees Teach Us About Collective Resilience
If you have ever been stung by a bee, you know how intensely painful the stinger is. Similarly, if you’ve tasted fresh, local honey, it is safe to say the flavor is unsurpassed in its delightful sweetness. I find the dichotomy of the honeybee’s purpose and behavior intriguing. How can one tiny creature have such a wide range of impact? Moreover, what do these fascinating insects teach us about the complex, harsh, and exquisite world around us? As we enter the month of November, a month somewhat steeped in the traditions of gratitude, as well as a month very much charged in this election year, perhaps this little bee might offer some perspective.
Image from Canva.com
Researchers have widely identified that honeybees have sophisticated societies within the hive dynamics, including structured communication which includes cooperation, reciprocity, and purpose within a social group. Each bee has a specific role- worker, drone, or queen- and each role contributes to the hive’s survival. Bees also communicate through what is called a sophisticated “waggle dance” method used by a forager to direct other bees to sources of food. By sharing this information, the scout bees enable the entire hive to access resources.[1] I’m thinking of that fragrant fruit salad we’re eating during a picnic,
and with the start of one bee’s approach, the next thing we know, there’s a swarm attacking the backyard banquet. “Hey Sam, watermelon at fence three, send the troops!” As annoying as that might be for the picnic goers, for Sam the honeybee to alert the hive, at a fundamental level, we are unknowingly witnessing a form of grace and care for others in the simplest of forms. More simply put, while bees might not experience ‘gratitude’ as we know it, the act of sharing food locations can be seen as a form of mutual care that strengthens group cohesion.
Why does gratitude matter from a societal perspective, you might ask? First, let’s get a sense of what gratitude is. As eloquently described by writers with Harvard Health Publishing, “Gratitude is a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives, whether tangible or intangible. With gratitude, people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. In the process, people usually recognize that the source of that goodness lies at least partially outside themselves. As a result, being grateful also helps people connect to something larger than themselves as individuals — whether to other people, nature, or a higher power.”[2] Moreover, one doesn’t have to look far to have a personal sense of how gratitude impacts mood. If you have ever experienced a kind gesture from a friend, family member, or within your community, you know what the felt sense of gratitude can do. The swell and warmth in your chest, the sense of connection toward others, seemingly reduces the potential of negative thoughts or preoccupation. There’s a kind of wellness that evolves when we feel grateful.
The UCLA Health Journal writes, “A review of 70 studies that include responses from more than 26,000 people found an association between higher levels of gratitude and lower levels of depression.”[3] Many findings suggest that using gratitude practices can also decrease anxiety, enhance social relationships, as well as improve sleep. “In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”[4]
This experience of gratitude is particularly salient within current society. In today’s challenging, boreoarctic landscape, finding stability and unity can feel like an uphill battle, let alone feeling grateful. While I wish piling a plate high with turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing would magically help families get along, and tension within our communities and the larger global world soften, the sting of our current political atmosphere can be quite painful. However, as society faces crises like environmental threats, social volatility, and economic hardships, perhaps we can find unexpected inspiration in nature—specifically, in bees. A study published by Science Daily emphasizes that bees are adaptive, continuously evolving their behaviors and colonies to survive environmental changes.[5] This resilience parallels the need for flexibility in politics, where changing policies based on new information or shifting conditions is critical to long-term stability. The need to adapt to emerging challenges reflects how political systems might function better if they were more responsive and resilient to new crises, much like a beehive responding to a changing environment.
Furthermore, bees teach the power of collective resilience, a value that can inform politics during turbulent times. Just as bees work through adversity to support their hive, societies can benefit from unity, empathy, and shared purpose. By valuing the lessons that bees provide in cooperation, resilience, and adaptability, we can hope to inspire a political culture that serves everyone, not just a select few.
Some might believe it next to possible to feel gratitude when facing social vulnerability, polarizing thinking, and diverse and sometimes opposing views on local and/or global policy. I might suggest that it is exactly in these times that we lean the greatest toward gratefulness. The larger our hearts open toward one another, the greater the likelihood we can listen to differences and create bridges of shared faith and outcome. Conversely, the more we constrict our hearts and look toward our adversaries as ‘other’, amoral, or downright wrong, the greater the divide and the greater our collective risks. Is there a way to care about one another and express gratitude for our unique views, without expectations that we must all think and act the same? Just like the bees with individual jobs and roles in protecting the hive, could it be our individual perspectives can indeed serve our greater societal world, and that all opinions might offer some sort of value for collective growth?
Practicing gratitude for all human diversity (especially that which you do not agree with or understand) can have immensely positive repercussions. The breaking bread. The sharing of story. The pause between one’s thoughts and another’s. Room for warmth despite the sense of chill. Being grateful is a choice. It is an active decision to welcome softness within oneself, agreeing to set down the stingers we carry as weapons when we disagree. It is a conscious acceptance to allow peace to fill edge to edge the corners of our hearts. In its simplest form, gratitude is a practice we can deploy each day. This can be done through physical acts like verbal or written statements toward others, or mentally through forms of prayer, meditation, or compassion. It can be as grand as a declaration of love on a stadium billboard, or as small as a breath just before speaking. All that is truly required to cultivate a sense of gratitude is an invitation to the Self. “I am grateful for…” followed by the buzz of allowing all the blessings in your life, and all the uniqueness around you to be seen as a gift. And at the larger level, it is a buzz lifting us up toward an experiential sense of resilience within an otherwise painful world. When we are grateful for one another, our wellness multiplies as does access to unity and a collective sense of wellness.
I suggest that the job of cultivating gratitude is one we each have a duty to perform. There is a sweetness that is waiting to be tasted beyond the sting of our differences. This holiday season, please join me in finding gratitude for the bees, for all that they are, for ourselves, for our differences, and for all that we each are in the preciousness of life. We are much more powerful when we view ourselves as a collection of human hearts; beating, dreaming, and forging together. May gratitude be at the center of all your conversations this month and into the exceptional year to come. Gives thanks. Bee well.
References
[1] https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/bees-dont-just-wiggle-wiggle-they-learn-newly-discovered-complex-social-behavior-behind-waggle
[2] https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
[3] https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/health-benefits-gratitude
[4] https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
[5] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150819083650.htm