Fulfillment: A Pollinator’s Perspective

While all pollinators forage for the same food — nectar — where and when they find that food varies greatly. For example, nocturnal moths gravitate towards night-blooming flowers with white or cream coloured blossoms that reflect the moonlight, like those on plumeria trees. Hummingbirds on the other hand prefer long tubular flowers that are brightly coloured, like those on trumpet creeper vines.

In other words, hummingbirds and moths, as with other pollinators, tend to pollinate plants that bees do not.

In the same vein, I think that human pollinators are also all searching for the same thing: our nectar is a sense of fulfillment. That being said, where, when, and how we find fulfilment will vary as much as it does for non-human pollinators. Some of us will satiate ourselves through professional challenge or spiritual growth, others through devotion to family or a cause. Some may find the greatest sense of fulfilment from building community or bringing new ideas to life. It could even be a combination of any or all of the above.

One source of fulfilment isn’t inherently better than another, just as a trumpet creeper isn’t inherently better than a plumeria. What matters is that our source of fulfillment is authentic to who we are. Just imagine the ripple effects to an ecosystem if a hummingbird tried to sustain itself on a hawk moth’s diet.

Pollinators show us that our desires aren’t as interchangeable as they may seem. Moreover, they remind us that our search for fulfillment is an ongoing process analogous to feeding ourselves day after day. We will not reach a point of fulfillment that is permanent and complete any more than a hummingbird will reach a point of complete and everlasting satiation.