Flowering Fridays: The Way of the Flower

Primose on my desk

There is nothing you can see that is not a flower; there is nothing you can think that is not the moon. ~Basho

I have been writing about flowers on (most) Fridays for the past 16 months.

I say most Fridays, because there have been only a few I've missed.

(And this past Friday was one. I was in Cleveland last Friday, and I had some technical difficulties when I went to the cafe. So I am posting today.)

I have been thinking how I could probably spend the rest of my life looking at flowers, reflecting on what they have to teach us about life and ourselves.

I am beginning to get what Basho talks about — everything is a flower. Ev-ery-thing.

I find that the more I look at flowers, the more there is to learn, discover and notice.  And the more I look into flowers, the more connections I make between flowers and me and life.

I really thought that I would run out of things to say about flowers after the first few months.

But there has always been more for me to ponder.

Often I find that what I see in the flower is exactly what I need to learn that week. Or it's the perfect reminder when I start thinking I'm on the "hard and sucky life plan" (which is so not true, but is sometimes the place I go to when I forget that all is well and I am loved by life).

I am still on my Pema Chödrön kick this week.
 
I have been listening to two of Chödrön's audiobooks, "Getting Unstuck" and "True Happiness."

When I was driving last week, what I heard Chödrön say (and I'm paraphrasing, because I was driving after all) was that you need to look no further than your life to teach you everything you need to learn.

You don't need a book or anything to find the raw material for cultivating compassion or attaining enlightenment — it can be found in the moment to moment happenings of your life.

(And, I would add, you don't need anything but what's right in front of you to serve as your greatest teacher.)

This resonates with me deeply, but it hasn't always been easy for me to grasp.

I can easily get caught up in the fantasy that happiness, peace and enlightenment will come only after I lose 30 pounds, buy a villa in Tuscany, have hours of time to do as I please or have millions in the bank.

Or I can think that my being in Cleveland last week to clean out my mom's house with my sister was an interruption to what I really what to be doing (working on my new writing project, nesting in our new place, figuring out how to sell the "old" one).

But, thanks to the flowers (and to Chödrön), I know whatever I'm doing is rich with opportunity for me to access my own flowering nature if I can only be present enough to see it.

I'm learning that there is always more to learn, more opportunities to expand my heart and more depths to explore (even with the people and things that I think I already know).

And I'm learning that what we need to learn is right here, right now.

Life is always presenting us with the perfect opportunity for us to awaken more and more into unveiling the beautiful bloom that we already are.

Tell me, what in your life can you notice more deeply and use as your teacher for today?

P.S. I returned home Sunday night. The cleaning was tender-going (both heart-aching and heart-expanding) but overall it was actually really wonderful. Sorting through all those things mom had offered me a glimpse into a fuller knowing of who she was. It was yet another reminder that, as my teacher Jan Smith says, the conversation is never over. It continues on, even after death.

Monday Musings: Life As Friend and Teacher

Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we would like to dream about. The off-center, in between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don't get caught, and in which we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit.

The spiritual journey involves going beyond hope and fear, stepping into unknown territory, continually moving forward. The most important aspect of being on the spiritual path may be to just keep moving. Usually, when we reach our limit, we feel exactly like Rinpoche's attendants and freeze in terror. Our bodies freeze and so do our minds. Rather than indulge or reject our experience, we can somehow let the energy of the emotion, the quality of what we're feeling pierce us to the heart. This is a noble way to live. It’s the path of compassion — the path of cultivating human bravery and kindheartednes.

— Pema Chödrön, from When Things Fall Apart

I read When Things Fall Apart while in Florida over New Year's (thanks to a recommendation from my teacher and coach Jan Smith). I have been re-reading a chapter each day since returning home. Chödrön's words feel like soul food to me — satisfying, meaty, quenching. I would rank this in my list of the Top 10 of Books that Will Rock Your World (and Change Your Life).

I am loving so much about this book and the clear way Chödrön writes.

I especially love the above line about life being a good teacher and a good friend.

Too often in the last few months I found myself forgetting this, viewing life instead as an "enemy" out to get me.

I like the idea of welcoming whatever life brings me as friendly and teaching.

My intention this week is to look at all I experience — even that which I label "bad" — a friendly to me and offering me something new to learn.

Tell me, how is life being your good friend and teacher today?

P.S. Another piece I am really resonating with Chödrön is her discussion of the Buddhist concept of maitri, about unconditional friendliness toward yourself and feeling at home with your own mind and your own body. Below is a video of an older talk where she discusses this. And click here for a transcript of a talk she gave on the topic. All good stuff. I could use to stop seeing myself as an enemy, too. 

(Direct link to video here.)

Flowering Fridays: Why Bloom?

Geranium, Garden Arts, last week, New Smyrna Beach, FL

I wonder why the flowers bloom.

Most blooms will only last a few days. And it takes so much effort to go from seed to flower.

Sometimes a flower's blooming goes unnoticed.

Sometimes despite their best efforts they never make it to full bloom.

Sometimes their petals get insect holes and splotches.

And sometimes people come around the pluck them off in their prime.

I wonder why the flowers don't just say, "You know, this blooming business is for the birds. It's not worth the time and the effort and heartache to bother blooming."

I wonder why they don't just stay a seed in the dirt. It probably feels a lot safer, warmer and more protected there under the earth.

Then I remember: it's in the flower's DNA to bloom. It's what they were born to do. And it's what they were born to give.

I think the flower knows, on some level, that its bloom — among the millions of other flowers — makes a difference.

Maybe it's difference is profound. Or quite small.

But it does matter.

Be it to a bumble-bee, a butterfly or a weary soul walking by in need of some magic, beauty and mystery.

And so the flower risks it all to do what it's born to do, what it must do, which is to bloom.

I believe we each carry a seed inside of us that is our "bloom" to the world.

And that our earthly journey is to care for and nurture that seed…to find the courage and patience and trust to allow it propagate into the world…and to tend to our unique flower with deep faith, fierce love and profound commitment.

No matter the risks, the obstacles or the niggly little voice that says "why bother blooming?"

We may think our bloom doesn't make a difference. But it does.

It really, truly does.

Tell me, what inspires you to bloom?

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Flowering Fridays is a weekly look at flowers through the lens of what they might teach us about flowering fully in our life. Past editions are here.