A tiny sunflower is blooming in a large container where a gardenia calls home. It found its way there via a bird or squirrel who either mistakenly dropped it or has a love for gardening and flowers.
As I sit on the back porch, in my hammock swing, I look at the struggling sunflower and can’t help but think of the saying, ‘Bloom where you are planted.’
My friend has chosen to work in Iraq and I chose to move back to the Gulf Coast. Both of us felt a call to our chosen destination without knowing how our talents would be used or how we would make a difference; yet, each of us is finding ways to bring positive energy to where we are planted.
Like the little sunflower, all of us might be lucky enough to escape the equivalent of a trip through the digestive system of a bird or squirrel (with any luck at all) and find fertile soil in which to live, move and have our being. In reality, the world is our garden. Anywhere we find ourselves gives the opportunity to serve and shine a little light.
With proper nourishment and support we all might grow into our potential…and bless the world.
My two darlings are delighted that two large hanging planters are growing their favorite treat. These bountiful baskets have become the focus of much attention from my feline friends.
Stanley Kubrick after his indulgence in the wicked weed
My ginger cat makes no excuses and could care less what others think of his fondness for catnip. And yet he requests that I hold the fresh, aromatic leaf so he can nimbly bite and lick it until a bird flutters by the screen porch or a squirrel barks in protest. Then he’s gone in a puff of orange and white fur. Stanley is a recreational user.
Gracie anxiously awaits more ‘product’….Thinking CNA (Cat Nip Anonymous) might be called in for an intervention
The hard core addict is my shy girl. Any time I walk out the back door, she is now on my heels and eager to have another…another…another. She consumes huge leaves, stems and I’ve wondered what would happen if I smeared fresh juice on her orange brother. So far I cannot convince him to participate in my science experiment. Her normal behavior is to get up to sleep more. With an occasional break to eat, get brushed, and contemplate more cat napping. They say addicts will do anything for another fix. Reminds me of the search for fossil fuels….hmmm.
At this rate I’ll have to create more baskets of herbal delight to keep up with the demand. My courtyard might become as famous as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But it was also the only wonder that might have been purely legendary. Maybe their grew catnip, too.
Last summer I spent nights sitting under a blanket of black sky twinkling with white stars. The sound of waves lapping on the sand and humid air hugging my skin brought me into the present where I experienced the wonder of nature. Sitting quietly awaiting the birth of sea turtle hatchlings, I was gently guided to recognize and harmonize with the magnificent natural world.
A few miles east, tourists wandered through souvenir shops looking for trinkets with which to remember their vacation. Perhaps few ever understood the biggest treasures could be found sitting on a quiet beach absorbing the peace and magic of the place. While the Gulf of Mexico and beaches affected them, maybe many left never seeing the beauty….the deep beauty…or feeling their connection to it, as part of it.
laughing gull
I wonder if that’s why humans can so easily ignore the plight of our planet. Collectively we see through eyes blinded with superficiality: Nice ocean, nice beach…oh, look a sea gull…wow there’s another tee shirt shop….let’s buy a $20 tee shirt to remember….nice flower….nice tree…too bad they are clearing them…gotta go to work…can’t save everything….oh that’s sad about the dolphins, let’s get a tee shirt with a dolphin on it….could I have extra plastic bags for shells….just put your cigarette butts in the sand they’ll dissolve….recycling takes too much effort….
There are probably many reasons humans ignore their connection to nature. I think we’ve specialized our roles in society and have forgotten that we are entirely connected and dependent on nature for our life.
Disconnect One: A farm half way across the planet grows food for us. A fisherman catches our dinner. We show up at the grocery store and connect to our food sources by perusing the air conditioned aisles. Most of us have no idea what it takes to grow enough food to sustain our own lives.
Disconnect Two: Collectively we have bought into the mindset that more is better. We consume at alarming rates. We feed the corporate mindset that more profit is vital and so resources dwindle at any cost.
Disconnect Three: We are too busy. Our collective pace is out of sync with the timing of the seasons and movement of the Earth. This is strongly connected to the ‘more is better’ mindset. We sacrifice ourselves to feed the ‘profit at any cost’ motto.
This reminds me of TheMatrix movies where humans are only used for the energy they produce for machines. They are put into a dream-world of their choosing and exist in their minds in this place while their bodies are used only for what they produce. Sound familiar?
At some point individuals break out of their bondage and begin to see life as it really is in TheMatrix. It’s not easy and they struggle but the reward is awareness, consciousness…awakening.
Our fate is determined by our choices…every day choices…by what we choose to notice, to give our attention to as that is what will multiply and blossom in our lives.
The birds are singing. My garden is growing…slowly, ever so slowly. The river is flowing. I breathe in slowly…I exhale slowly. My bare feet feel the warm soil. The leaves of the trees softly rustle in the breeze. Nature embraces me as its own. This, to me, is peace. This is a small beginning in learning to see beyond….
Warm air, heavy with the scent of jasmine, wrapped around me as I entered the courtyard. It had only been four days but during that short time so much had changed.
The wall of jasmine was the most obvious change as its delicious smell mixed with gardenia created a mood-altering experience through scent. And as much as I wanted to explore, communion with the river came first.
Layers of humid air hung heavy over the water as my board sliced through the mirror-slick surface. My body longed for movement after traveling and sitting so much over the long weekend. I amped up the pace and had a great workout, during which I discovered the osprey babies I have been monitoring had hatched. Mama Osprey was feeding them as I paddled under their nest atop the high pole. This morning my river prayers were of thanksgiving for these new lives.
Upon returning home, I walked out to my garden and saw baby jalapeño peppers, baby tomatoes, and baby satsumas hanging green and full of potential. Growth was the theme of return to my beloved home.
After communing with my plant friends I turned on my favorite classical music in the speakers outside and glided around the courtyard greeting the beauty exploding everywhere. Such life!
The grandmother oak tree in the center stood watching and when I finished, she called to me. I laid my hands on her rough bark and felt her strength as I offered up a prayer of gratitude for the opportunity to celebrate the day with a morning courtyard dance.
This morning found me once again in the new garden–the task was mulching. It wasn’t difficult. It was just repetitive and like the grass removal, the effort gave me time to reflect. During my working meditation the same ideas I wrote about yesterday surfaced and continued to give me tid bits to ponder.
Yesterday I realized that many of us find our value from things we do for others or in our jobs. We might even assign ourselves a task for helping our spouse or significant other. This role might become our entire reason for staying in the relationship. And once that task is completed, we feel we are of no value to the other person or that there is no need to stay in the relationship. We might justify our existence by what we do and when what we ‘do’ is no longer needed, we fade away.
The same thing applies in work environments. If we base our value on the role or job we have, when that job ends we lose our value…at least in that way of thinking.
Amid scooping and spreading mulch this understanding kept growing….As the mulch pile decreased, the ideas increased.
There is danger in finding identity through what we do or our performance…rather than who we are at our core.
Over twenty-five years ago Thom Rutledge reminded me that my value doesn’t come from what I do. It was such a foreign concept he presented. I had based my entire life on approval for what I did. Not for who I was. Those layers are still peeling away and I understand on a deeper level exactly what he meant.
Success doesn’t come from how many books I sell or how much money I generate from hard work. If that were the case I’d be floating in cool cash after the past four days of labor in the garden. Perhaps success is really just about showing up, being present and living with an open heart and mind. I’m not sure yet…I’ll let you know in another 25 years.
Until then, I’ll be making my morning pilgrimage outdoors to unearth wisdom in a garden.
A tiny sunflower is blooming in a large container where a gardenia calls home. It found its way there via a bird or squirrel who either mistakenly dropped it or has a love for gardening and flowers.
My friend has chosen to work in Iraq and I chose to move back to the Gulf Coast. Both of us felt a call to our chosen destination without knowing how our talents would be used or how we would make a difference; yet, each of us is finding ways to bring positive energy to where we are planted.
Like the little sunflower, all of us might be lucky enough to escape the equivalent of a trip through the digestive system of a bird or squirrel (with any luck at all) and find fertile soil in which to live, move and have our being. In reality, the world is our garden. Anywhere we find ourselves gives the opportunity to serve and shine a little light.
With proper nourishment and support we all might grow into our potential…and bless the world.
