This rose is opening in my garden today. It looked like a special star early this morning.
I wish you all Peace, Love and Hope.
“May the Angel of Awakening stir your heart
To come alive to the eternal within you,
To all the invitations that quietly surround you…”
(John O’Donohue)
Our tall, beautiful, self sown flowering cherry tree has just one last leaf on it.
Despite being battered by many gale force winds this leaf is still on the tree as I type this post.
I’ve been considering possible metaphors around this leaf and a range come to my mind:
Do we cling on to something long after we should have let it go?
Do we hold on to beliefs or behaviours that no longer serve us?
Do we have utter determination in the face of great opposition and stand firm?
Do we like to have the final say, be the star of the finale?
Is life just puzzling and full of quirks?
Do we show great strength and grit in circumstances that are threatening and difficult?
Are we pioneers, forging new ways that have never been achieved before?
When conditions around us are inhospitable and life diminishing and we feel frail, drained, worn can we find inner strength, in reserves deep within us?
What does this last leaf offer you as a metaphor?
And another really amazing aspect contained in this photo is the evidence of next spring’s bubs, already formed, as the last leaf hangs, speaking of hope.
I’ve been thinking about a three letter word this week and realise just how much I use it, often at the end of a sentence.
I find it helpful in quieting the negative voice/s in my head.
The little word is “yet”, used as an adverb. “I haven’t written that blog post……..pause and insert “yet.”
Yet can mean “up to the present time, thus far” and I think this offers a great sense of hope, possibility, potential, choice and opportunity. It can relieve pressure, increase a sense of empowerment, capability and capacity, encourage wider thinking or creativity and let our clever brains get to work in a way that supports us instead of beating us down.
A photo of “yet” seemed a little trickier to capture but maybe this pile of wind gathered autumn leaves says “it is autumn here but not yet winter” and thus far the temperature here today bears that out.
I’ve checked the dictionary and “tenacious” can mean “persisting in existence” and this fuchsia cutting certainly has tenacity in truckloads.
When we shifted to this house in the late 1980’s there was a woody, gnarly old fuchsia bush which was the parent of this cutting. In 1998 we did extensive outdoor landscaping which meant the old bush had to be removed.
At the time of removal I took a cutting and popped it into a small plastic pot, silently promising it that if it survived I would find a place for it somewhere in the modified garden.
It is hard to believe that this cutting somehow survived in its little pot for 14 years, despite dry spells, wet conditions, frost, snow and harsh winds. But it did and after removing some unwanted plants in the early new year I honoured my promise and planted it back near the site of its parent.
In keeping with its determined life force it is doing very well, flowering and putting on new leaves. I am watering it regularly and the mulch around it should help ensure it survives the summer. I am looking forward to it flourishing and offering a splash of colour in that spot in the garden. It is a symbol of keeping a firm hold on life and hope.
How often news reports contain only doom and gloom but today I heard an item that made my heart sing and gives me hope.
The people responsible for doing home care service reviews in 5 District Health Boards around the country are going to return to that old fashioned concept of meeting people in their own homes to do these assessments.
For the last year assessments have been conducted via telephone. The move to this, at the time, appalled so many people yet despite valid protests and concerns the scheme went ahead. It was heart-wrenching to hear of elderly or disabled people losing their support systems after a telephone interview.
I love emails and the contacts that the internet brings to me but I also love and value getting together with people. We cannot do everything from a remote location and the care of people seems to me to be one area of life that requires trusting, face to face relationships.
“ New seed is faithful. It comes on the wind, whether you want it to or not, and it roots most deeply in the places that are the most empty. Don’t forget that.” Clarissa Pinkola Estes
This photo seems to capture this message. Take heart.
I picked up a book yesterday and out dropped a card with handwritten wisdom on it. I see the writer dated it Oct 1994. Her wisdom that she offered me back then still resonates with me today so I thought I would share it with you.
“Lower expectations, raise appreciation”
“Work is love in action.”
“Worry is an unproductive exercise”
“Let us hope for the future instead of regret for the past.”
“My three D’s: Discipline, Determination, Dedication”
Go well today.
“We have not solved your problem. In fact, we have more questions than when we started. But we believe we are confused at a higher level and about more important things.”
Electrical Engineering Lab. SRI International.
ordinarygoodness 