Lily of the Valley, side bed, May 2009
I love the Lily of the Valley and its delicate string of flowers.
I love how each flower seems to build upon the next, growing it taller and into something bigger and more beautiful as a result of the collective blooming.
This is how we grow into our blooming big in life — one step at a time, moving and growing inch by inch with every step we take.
It reminds me of the refrain of a favorite song of my childhood:
Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
'Til the rain comes tumbling down— from The Garden Song by David Mallett
I need to remember to take small steps. Little inches forward.
My tendency is to want to do it all at once.
Like write a book. Now. Or clean out the attic. Now. Or Lose 20 pounds. Now.
But that's not how life works. There is a journey and process to everything in life.
From cleaning the attic to to writing a book to creating a business to growing a garden.
I have to remind myself that it's the small inch-by-inch movements that allow the seeds of what I want to create to take root and grow into a beautiful flower.
Take my new book project. I see how I want it to come together, and I want it all figured out, oh, yesterday.
But for now, all I can do are the first "inchings": set up some research interviews, do some market research and journal for 30 minutes several times a week to explore ideas.
"Inching" keeps it manageable.
Sometimes I like to think in yard-long lengths: Write for 8 hours straight. Design a website for book in a weekend. Create a marketing plan.
But that's too much for me to take on at once.
Inch-size movements are better for me and allow me to keep my steady momentum going.
In this way, I will create this new book.
One sentence at a time. One interview at a time. One inching at a time.
Tell me, what's one small "inching" you can take toward your blooming big dream in your life?
P.S. I've gotten some wonderful insights and support for keeping my actions small and actionable through Jen Louden's Comfort Cafe and Life Spa membership site. If you sign up before June 20, you can lock in the $12 monthly fee for the life of your membership. She provides a ton of goodies each month (teleseminars, meditations, a lively forum of inspiring women). I highly recommend it.
By the way, I'm heading out to Ohio to visit family (almost all my family is in the Cleveland area) and celebrate my dad and stepmom's 25th wedding anniversary with a soiree my stepsisters and I are hosting. So fun.
I'll leave you with a little John Denver goodness (who doesn't need a little John Denver goodness, right?!) Check out this video of him singing "The Garden Song" on the Muppet Show. Check out the flower, plant and watermelon muppets. Darling! Direct link to video here.
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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.