Once upon a time there was a little inchworm named Inga. She was bright green and lived underneath a rhododendron shrub. Like all inchworms, Inga was obsessed with measuring. She meticulously counted every step, every bit of progress. She measured it against previous progress. She forecasted it against future progress. Of course, all of this calculating made her very critical of herself.

One day as Inga was having her breakfast, a beautiful brown moth landed on the leaf next to her. “Hello, moth! How does the world look from way up in the sky?” “It looks wonderful!” replied the moth. “You should go up to the top of the rhododendron and see it!” “Oh, I could never make it all the way up there,” Inga sighed. “I’m far too slow, and each step is so small…” “Nonsense!” laughed the moth. “Let go of all those judgments you hold against yourself. Even inchworms can eventually fly!”

Inga thought about what the moth said all night. But she couldn’t stop judging, measuring, recording.

The next morning Inga felt wonderful. She stretched and yawned… and when she looked down she realized she’d grown wings! She had finally grown into a moth! Inga zoomed into the air, twice as high as the shrub, and looked down on the entire world. She had let go of her calculations and self-judgments, and was free!