Flowering Wisdom: On Tending Your Seedlings

Dear Wise Flower,

Our daughter Grace has been dutifully tending to a small pot of basil seeds the past few weeks.

At one point, she got frustrated. The first pot of forget-me-nots never sprouted, and it was looking like the basil might have the same fate.

Her first impulse was to give up, but low and behold this week, four wee green shoots emerged, eagerly reaching toward the sun.

It's so human to want to give up when something isn't happening according to our timeline.

I'm reminded me of I post I wrote when I waited for some zinnia seedlings to sprout two years ago and I too almost threw the pot away.

But Grace's patient tending of the seeds — moving them from windowsill to windowsill to get more sun, watering them a little each day — reminds me of the kind of regular tending we must do for any seeds we want to nurture in our life, whether it's a dream or a way of being.

With all the rain we've been having I feel we are in a nurturing mode right now. It seems the perfect time to reflect on those seeds in your life that could benefit from some regular tending from you.

What's a small regular action you could do that would support one of your most cherished heart-seeds?

What nourishing actions would allow it to emerge out of the darkness of the soil and begin to grow and thrive?

How do you cultivate patience when the seeds aren't emerging as quickly as you would like?

I invite you to ponder these questions, and look soulfully at what you can do to support your seeds as they grow into strongly rooted plants.

I'm currently working on two offerings that supports people in discovering the possibilities and pathways for tending these soul seeds in ways that work for the flower you are.

My intention in all I do is to remind you that you are a precious flower and your heart-seeds (whatever they may be) are needed in this world, to own and honor the unique flower you are and to share resources and possibilities so that whatever seeds you want to bloom into the world can thrive.

Sending you steadfast patience and the deep knowing that your seeds are emerging, whether you can see them or not.

big love,

Shannon

Flowering Wisdom: How to Keep Blooming Open (When You Want to Close Down)

Dear Beautiful Flowers,

It's been a long time since I last wrote in this space. I am returning from a lot of time composting and am ready to blog again. I am dipping my toes back in with this note I sent out today. I am forward to sharing more flowers, more inspiration and more stories with you. Thank you for being here and most of all, thank you for being the beautiful flower you are.

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For me, the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed deepened my heart's desire for more love and more peace in this world.

{imagine a world filled with peace amongst all. how awesome would that be?!}

But sometimes when I feel overwhelmed by the pain and suffering in this world, I want to shut down, to give up. It feels so hard and vast.

 But thankfully, this week I remembered the flowers.

{yes, yes, the flowers can heal so much!}

I see the hyancinths in my yard and how they keep blooming open no matter how harsh the conditions might be — rain, sleet, snow (yep, this is springtime Wisconsin!).

And I think of the desert flowers who don't open until the heat gets oppressively hot.

Knowing this about flowers, I know this about us humans, too: 1. we are made to overcome adversity and 2. no matter what the conditions are, it's important to keep opening to blooming.

And so my practice this week has been around cultivating an open heart, through prayer, meditation, breathing, and leaning in when I notice I want to close down.

Yesterday, I felt called to do a lovingkindness meditation. 

{Meditation teacher Susan Piver has a wonderful free mp3 here (scroll down to bottom of page).}

If you aren't familiar with lovingkindness meditation, it is a Buddhist practice that opens your heart to yourself and all of humanity.

To do this practice, you start with wishes of wellness and peace to yourself.

Something like: "May I be well. May I be happy. May I know peace and ease."

And then you extend this wish to people you love, people you are neutral about (the grocery store clerk, the mom at the park) and finally you send love to those you feel hostility toward.

As I was doing this meditation, it struck me how you send the meditation first to yourself.

I had an epiphany then as I looked at all the places in myself where there was not peace, love and compassion.

And I realized: I can change the world. From the inside out.

How?

The more peace, the more love, the compassion I cultivate within myself (especially the parts of myself that aren't very peace-like...like the judgmental and grudging-holding part...or the part that snaps at my husband), the more peace and love can take root in the world.

I so believe we are all connected to all being through our hearts. (Change yourself, change the world, my meditation teacher Donna Mitchell-Moniak says.)

So as I keep blooming open to more love and peace within, I create more love and peace in the hearts of flowers the world over.

Of course, there is more inner work to do. (Maybe a peace treaty between the warring parts of myself is in order?) And I might still shut down sometimes.

But my commitment to remember to keep blooming open, again and again and again.

big love,
Shannon

P.S. Local friends: I have two spaces left for this Saturday's Flowering Wisdom: Bloom Bigger in Your Life class. You'll learn how to flower more fully in all areas of your life. If you are called to join us, please contact me by noon tomorrow (Friday, May 6, 2011). It's going to be beautiful and a chance to root even more deeply into peace and love.

P.P.S. If you haven't been around my website for a while, have you seen my new book, Flowering Wisdom: Inspiring Thoughts on Life, Love and Blooming Big? It's a compilation of photos and words that first appeared on this blog. Thank you for taking the time to be here. Your presence allowed this book to be born. {grateful, grateful}

Flowering Fridays: Making Space for New Seedlings to Grow

I've learned a thing or two in my 15 years of gardening.

Like:

You need regularly tend to your garden for it to fully bear fruit.

Weeding allows space for the plants you actually want in your garden to grow.

New seedlings need a lot of care and attention at the beginning so that they can fully thrive.

I have been noticing in my life garden that there was a very special seedling that I given some attention, but not enough for it to really take root and blossom.

Looking at it over the past six months, I found it was wilting and stunted in its growth.

It's a project that so speaks to my heart, feels so very "me" and, most importantly, I can see it making a difference for others in the world. (I don't have it all figured out yet, but it will be a kind of guidebook/resource for spiritual seekers.)

As much I've loved inspiring writers through coaching, classes and the like, I'm ready to step into being an inspired writer myself by turning my attention over to my own writing once again.

I had a wonderfully clarifying intuitive healing session with Hiro Boga two weeks ago.

In an hour, she clarified what had been a big ball of stuckness for more than six months.

(yes, she's that good.)

Before our session, I just couldn't see how the new project fit with the Inspired Writer business. Did I launch two separate websites and blogs? Integrate the two into one? Add a third just for flowers?

Aargh.

I felt lost and overwhelmed.

My own intuitive journaling was pointing me in the right direction (let the Inspired Writer go, I wrote back in January). But it didn't clearly come together until my session with Hiro.

As we talked about the new project and The Inspired Writer (this blog and my business), she suggested putting the Inspired Writer on sabbatical so I could focus on my own journey and on figuring out what this guidebook-thingy will look like.

No blog. No website. No writing coaching. Just time and space to create and allow this tiny seedling of a project to grow into something bigger.

Immediately, I could feel my body relax and excitement ripple through my body.

Last week, I wrote about ideal conditions.

And my ideal conditions include space for reflection, research and my own creative cocoon.

While I do like to offer what I create into the world eventually, the initial process is always more fulfiling to me when it's internal, personal and private.

So, starting next week, my intention for the next six months is to explore, write, create, dream and experience what this guidebook wants to be and who I need to be to shepherd it into the world.

So, this might be the last Flowering Fridays ever…or not. I'll see what develops.

No matter how this unfolds, I will always be deeply grateful for the gift of this writing space, for the flowers and to myself for giving my reflections a place to take root.

I have been able to share in these 71 posts all kinds of big and little moments in my life.

I have been able to share how it was to be with my mom when she died, what our house move brought up in me and how I'm learning how to trust and allow and see the beauty that's ever-present. (And how I forget. Often.)

I have so appreciated those of you co-travelers who have taken the time to read my missives and make comments.

I carry your supportive words, love and encouragement with me into this new chapter.

I do plan to keep in touch through periodic newsletters to share discoveries of new resources and updates on my journey.

(If you want to keep in touch, please sign up here. As a thank you, I will send you a Meet Your Writing Muse guided audio meditation.)

I also plan to post on Twitter (@inspiredwriter) and on Facebook. Follow and friend me if we aren't already connected.

It seems fitting that for the first week of spring I am allowing the shoots of this new project to receive the full sunlight, watering and attention it deserves.

As the flowers are boldly emerging in my yard here in Wisconsin, I too am ready to step into a fuller bloom of myself by honoring and tending to this seedling.

I send you so much love and gratitude for being a part of this journey.

And I send you my wishes that you will continue to bloom. grow. shine. in the garden of your life, too.

Tell me, what tender seedling are you nurturing in your life right now? What's your best advice for navigating the seedling stage of a project?

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Image: Daffodil, poking through, front yard, March 25, 2010

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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.