The Poppy How can such a beautiful plant be emblematic of so much harm? Yet morphine was – and still is – vital in tolerating intractable pain. This mix of benefit and torment hits us where we live as we try to negotiate the present and plan for the future. Life can seem awfully pale – even pointless, without our “chosen drug.” Each day we commit to putting one step in front of the other so that we can get to tomorrow. But don’t forget to contemplate all the treasures along the way; many beauties that take thought, time, development of our aesthetic taste to appreciate. Snails. Squid. Bonsai trees. Mushrooms, crows, flounder. The pleasure we learn to take in these is our endorphin against pain and misery. What are your Unlikely Favorites? Mantra : “I relish the unexpected”
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The Daffodil
Daffodils embody freshness and hope. First flowers of spring, they appear briefly, sway in the wind, then they are gone. We treasure their message of renewal. Cravings, negative thoughts, self-punishment, are also ephemeral. If we concentrate on something else, engage in positively purposeful activity, they vanish. Sometimes we succumb to tears over loss, mistakes, and past suffering. But tears can heal. They are a necessary part of the process, watering our future, and we should not be ashamed of them. Tears are human. Why not find some spring flowers and bury our faces in their clean, fresh scent, remembering that “Tears Heal”. The Rose
Maybe the reason we love roses is that they are so ephemeral. Each rose time capsules a moment. Others seem to value their tightly budded state, before they have experienced any of life’s vicissitudes. Not me. I like a mature rose, fully exploded with plenty of petals to drop – just like me. A rose that has been through some things and is no longer vulnerable. So there. “I revel in my wisdom” Ladyslipper
Are we special? Unique? Extraordinary? How would we know we were? How would we know if we weren’t? How does it matter. Much as we all like to fantasize about being a nonpareil, the flip side of singletonia is loneliness and incomprehension. We are all born feeling special, hard as life tries to convince us of the opposite. What’s THAT about? It’s almost as if we came from a place of ecstatic love to which we ever after long to return. Time to put some muscle into our “individuality” and stop ping-ponging back and forth between “just a face in the crowd” and “queen of the world.” A good way to start is to stop apologizing for ourselves. We are a work in progress. Don’t defend, apologize or explain your under-construction life plan, say, “I’m working it out.” Mantra: “I’m proud of who I am.” Foxglove
How do we develop the confidence to choose the “right course”, stay on the “right” course, or even assess the “rightness” of any course, considering all our past mistakes? We need “heart strengthening.” “Foxglove” is the source of digitalis, a powerful heart medication. Listen to your heart. What do we wish to ask? What is the difference between a “strengthening” or “harming” path? Some people are more confident following an “experts recommend” course exactly, others adapt and customize as they go to achieve a path that feels personally designed. I look for joy. Joy is the moment when planets and moments all click into alignment and we feel we accepted as a beloved child of the universe. Let’s unclog our ears, remove the plank from our vision and simplify our world to recapture the moments of joy experienced in childhood. Hunger, confusion and uncertainty were part of it, but a trusted loving, guiding force rescued us over and over again, prompting us to respond with a love as generous as we can summon. “I am open” Clinging Vine
So what if we can’t stand up without help? Let’s face it: NONE OF US CAN STAND UP WITHOUT HELP and the ones who won’t admit it are delusional. The question is finding non-exploitational help and can we help anyone in return without jeopardizing our own growth? Our daily existence is a complex orchestration between everything that’s in us and everything that’s “out there”. This explains bizarre fears of loss of the borders of self, owing to our longing is to go everywhere, be everyone and do everything. But here’s the astonishing fact: our minds are a multiverse. We really CAN go everywhere and do see everything; just not all at once. This is a power we can increase with practice. It requires coming to terms with self-destructive tendencies and recognizing them in others. “Permission granted” Hummingbird Who are we when we’re alone? Are our wings whirring so fast they’ve become invisible? Can we be alone? What do we say to ourselves when we are alone? Do we say self-defeating, destructive or insulting things to ourselves? Or are we problem solvers? How do we phrase “the problem” to ourselves? “How can I end my suffering” and “Why aren’t I winning at life?” are probably the wrong questions. We want to find peace but also be engaged in a pursuit of increasing power and understanding. Obviously we can’t move forward until we stop “fleeing” from some fearful concept of ourselves. We forgive ourselves for making mistakes, for “quitting” qt the cul-de-sacs inside the maze, for becoming discouraged and fearful. Every day we will schedule alone time to ask sit quietly with ourselves. We were made for connection, true, but each of us is a distinct being with a distinct purpose which keeps evolving. “I cherish alone time.” Wildflowers Some flowers grow “in spite of”, not “because of”. They are responsive to demands outside our human interference, yet something within us is profoundly responsive to them. Could it be that we are denying our inner wild thing? Let’s focus today’s practice on tuning in to our deepest, unspoken needs. Our manifest yearning is to be one with the universe. Flowers are “process”, and we have been assured, creatures of time that we are, that there is a time to feast, a time to fast, a time to celebrate and a time to mourn. Wildflowers spring up anywhere and everywhere to remind us of the world’s radical inner beauty. What deep urges are springing up within us? “I honor my path” The Sunflower
Our first weapon against triggers is meditation. Contemplate the sunflower, it's million seeds, generous height, magnificent mien. Sunflowers are sun-worshippers and the sun loves them back. Sunflowers welcome the rain. They can wait out the storms. They are never afraid. Flowers encapsulate time. Flowers are process. Flowers are always “becoming”. What hurts a flower? What heals it? What is your favorite flower? Why? Let’s meditate on it today. Let’s hold our flower in imagination. Look into it deeply, and feel it speak to you. Feel the bud unfolding, deep within yourself. Each contains the seeds of future power and beauty, a rise and fall of the rhythm of life. We are all swaying to and nourished by this music. The sun loves us, the rain freshens us, the night soothes us. Imagine yourself as one of the cherished flowers of creation. “I am beloved.” Birdsong
Birds gotta sing. This goes deeper than mere communication, or display. Birds sing from the moment of birth until the second of extinguishment. If they’re not singing, they’re ill. They’re not all lone troubadours, either; each African boubou shrike couple creates a unique duet to keep track of each other in the dense brush. What is your song? Not all of us regard ourselves as creatives yet we share intensely in our culture’s creativity and dream about it at night. Our new daily patterns are all about unlocking our inner potential. Do you have a concept of the new person you are becoming? If this new person “despises” your old self, I can tell you already the transition won’t work. Your disavowed, castigated shadow will follow you like a vengeful nemesis. To release our creativity, we must accept the past, incorporate our history and move on. It’s a question of getting out of the passenger seat and into the driver’s perch. Being a passenger is fun. Being the driver is – exciting. “I love me” |
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September 2022
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