Flowering Fridays: My New Role Model

Meet Ms. Spirea, a bush in my front yard

My new role model is, um, a bush.

Ms. Spirea Bush to be exact.

Have you two met yet?

No?

Well, let me introduce you: Spirea is well-loved for its ease of care, numerous blooms and the fact that it can thrive in really crappy soil.

If you experience overwhelm, stress or worry, you'll want to get to know spirea better, too.

(And not just because spirea — sometimes called meadowsweet — is used as traditional Native American herbal tea to treat fevers, stomach disorders and more.)

I have been marveling at the sheer volume of blooms she is producing now (thousands!), how long the blooms last and how all of this happens with such ease.

I have yet to see the spirea bush go into a sugar-binged, screaming-crying meltdown as she births all these blooms into being.

(Which is what I do when I have a meltdown.)

But, not Ms. Spirea. She just trusts and allows. And viola, she's blooming all over.

Like this:

I am loving that right now there are a lot of things blooming in my life (new book/web project, expansion for the Inspired Writer, a possible move, to name just a few).

But my unconscious default, up until now, is that I would stress over how all these various seedlings were going to get enough water, love and care to grow up big and strong.

Or I would have a limiting mindset that said I couldn't possibly have this many seedlings — I should chose just one or two to cultivate.

Or I would fret about having just the right conditions to put my seeds into the ground.

The bottom line was in my Eeyeore state of worry and gloom, I would expend a lot of time, energy and swirling that could have gone into being present and doing the next action that is needed.

Thanks to Ms. Spirea, my intention now is all about ease, trust and allowing.

Thanks to her example, I have been moving through the last few days in a way that is so refreshing.

I have a general sense what needs to be done. (And truthfully, I know in a very detailed sense, too, as I'm a major list-maker.)

But rather than try to figure out how I am going to bloom everything in my day, I'm just allowing and doing what needs to be done next.

So much more ease in this way for me.

So much less stress.

So much more potential for lots and lots of blooms to come into being.

And paradoxically, so much more gets done.

Kinda of like Ms. Spirea.

Tell me, which flower is inspiring your life right now?

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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.

Comments

[Deanna Taus]

My blooming rose. Just started yesterday. Adding it to FB now...

[Gretchen Wegner]

I love this post! I don't have a specific flower that is my "mentor" right now. But I did just return from Yosemite National Park recently. Whenever I'm out camping alone, I notice I spend time searching out "teachers." This time around, I found three: the waterfall, the redwood tree, and the woodpecker. Or rather...they found me. Actually, I think I'm going to go blog about it right now, because I'm so inspired by this metaphor of nature-as-teacher...

[Shannon Jackson Arnold]

Deanna, I love the blooming rose as a teacher (need to get some roses in my garden!!)…

And Gretchen, I love how you spend time seeking out teacher in nature…(And I loved how you so beautifully shared what you learned from your trip on your blog!!)

Hugs to you both!
Shannon