Your Blooming is Perfect

All photos of raunculus blooming, Baha'i Temple, Chicago, May 23, 2009

Just wanted to let you know today that...

your blooming is perfect.

Truly it is.

However you do it. At whatever speed. Be it quiet or flashy.There is no one way to bloom.

There is only your way, which is unique to you. And your way is perfect.

So today no matter what happens, rest in the knowing that your blooming is beautifully unfolding in the perfect way.

Remember this quote from Denis Waitley: "As long as we are persistent in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, we will continue to grow. We cannot choose the day or time when we will fully bloom. It happens in its own time."

Trust in that, and know that your blooming is needed in this world.

Of course, how you are blooming may change from day to day, depending on the atmosphere, the amount of rain and sunshine in your life and how well you've fertilized your soil.

Just know it's all good, all perfect. All contributing to your continuous unfolding to be in fullest bloom in your life.

Tell me, how are you blooming today?

What Makes You Bloom?

Sign from a community garden on W. Chicago Ave.

All photos taken with iPhone, using Camera Bag's Lolo and Helga filters

Saturday and Sunday were full bloom kind of days for me.

My husband, Michael and I, had an overnight getaway to Chicago to celebrate our 13th anniversary. We left our house Saturday with no plans others than hotel reservations, a beautiful day and our convertible to ride in.

I love the kind of days where I can allow them to unfold and just experience the magic that happens.

Our first stop was the iconic Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha. A spot we have passed countless times but had never visited. (Lots of cheese, foodstuffs and touristy items. Vintage Wisconsin at its best.)

Then, we took the scenic drive to Chicago, down Waukegan via Route 41 to Sheridan Drive, along the lake and some beautiful homes.

We stopped at the Baha'i Temple to enjoy its peaceful beauty and to pause to photograph the lovely flowers in the gardens. (I'll share some of these in a post later this week. The flowers there must love the sacred vibe of the place as there were some radiant photographs captured.)

In Evanston, we considered visiting one of my all-time favorite bookstores, Bookman's Alley. But instead stopped into Asinamali, a visual feast of a store — with cool jewelry, dress patterns papering the walls and Gwen Frostic's blockprint nature stationery. (I ended up wtih a lovely and wise Frostic book, Lilies of the Field.)

We had pad thai and panang curry at SABAI Thai and learned to say hello and thank you in Thai before heading into Chicago.

Once downtown, we headed to Armitage Avenue in Lincoln Park. We (really, I) fondled paper at Paper Source, marvelled at the cello class and an amazing singer working the desk at the Old Town School of Folk Music, checked out the custom handbags from 1154 LILL Studio, and sized up the stylish and sturdy bikes at Dutch Bike Chicago.

By late afternoon, we had checked into our lovely room at the Drake Hotel. (Tip: try Priceline for great deals on great hotels.)

With no plans for the evening, conceirge hooked us up with reservations at the Saloon Steakhouse, located within walking distance. It was reasonably priced and very good. (We did feel a bit overdressed, though, as the crowd leaned toward the casual.)

For music aftewards, the conceirege recommended the Drake's Palm Court, where The Flat Cats, a swing band, were playing at 9 p.m.

We had drinks. (Me, San Pellegrino. Him, Maker's Mark.) And we danced. A lot. And the band played many of our favorite songs. (Night Train. Buzz Buzz Buzz. The Way You Look Tonight, to name a few.)

It was almost as fun to dance as it was to watch the regulars spin across the floor. (The Flat Cats a regular feature of the Palm Court and have a loyal local following.)

Sunday morning we slept in and then had a delicious brunch at the Green Zebra in West Town. (Lavender butter with corn madelines, the frittata and Pink Peppercorn-Thyme soda were standouts.)

The entire weekend was wonderful. So filled with ease and all the elements that me make feel most alive: exploring, discovering, experiencing, being with my guy, enjoying good food, dancing, finding the magic, seeing flowers and photgraphing them.

All the kinds of things that make me feel like a flower in full bloom.

Tell me, what kinds of things make you feel like you are in full bloom?

Flowering Fridays: Seeing the Flowers

Sunflower from last summer's garden, September 2009

On Monday evening, I choose to feel upset with my husband.

And in heat of that moment, looking at him through the lens of my anger, I acted distant, disconnected and cold toward him.

I choose not to look at him with love, beauty and wonder.

And I choose not to see him as the beautiful flower that he is.

Part of my practice around living into my metaphor of flowers is to see everyone as the flower they are.

Some people I see as roses, some as daisies, others as delphenium.

Seeing each person as a flower, I can appreciate the unique expression that each person is — each as a beautiful miracle, each on a journey to its full blooming.

Through my flowered lens, I relate to people and life from the deepest part of myself, through the core gift that I am. (This metaphor arose out of the Future Thinking program that I am in with Jan Smith .)

It's a view that has changed life for me in so many beautiful ways.

But with my husband on Monday, in the heat of my anger, I couldn't see anything remotely flowery about him.

(Maybe prickly thistle or raggy ragweed, but definitely not a flower.)

In my more calm and loving moments, I picture my husband as a sunflower — sunny, regal, strong, upright, willing to give seeds, and radiant in the way he cares and shows his love.

And seeing him as the sunflower he is, I can stand in appreciation for his unique gifts and how divinely perfect he is as a spirit. When I see him as a flower, I am not in judgment or making wrong.

After all, as I've said before, can you really find anything "wrong" with a flower?

Even if the petals have a brown spot or one petal is ripped, the total of the flower is perfect just for being a flower.

In my last post, I mentioned how questions can open us up to a whole new world....and likewise, the lens or metaphors we live from shapes our world, too.

For me it's a question of whether I choose to see people and the world as blooming flowers — or as enemies on the attack.

Depending on how I'm seeing it, I'll move into life very differently.

My commitment is to keep choosing again and again and again to see people — and my husband — as flowers.

This weekend I have the gift of celebrating 13 years with the beautiful sunflower who has shone so much love into my life.

We are heading to Chicago for an anniversary getaway — and my intention is to celebrate and love this precious sunflower for the gift he is in my life.

I want to be like a bee on a sunflower with him this weekend, relishing in all the many facets that he is — funny, smart, handsome, kind, generous, spiritual, loving, proud, musical, curious, passionate, silly.

And letting him know that I am so thankful to have the gift of his sunflower in my life because it allows me to be the flower that I am more fully.

(Happy 13th anniversary, sweetie! I love you more and more each year!)

P.S. If you haven't noticed, I love metaphors and would encourage you to find one of your own if you don't have one already.

You could use flowers, but your metaphoric lens will probably be different than mine.

As I've learned through Jan Smith and Future Thinking about core metaphors, everyone's core metaphor is different. It will be unique to what you love to do with no attachment to outcome.

You might also love flowers, but we will probably love them for slightly different reasons as we are each unique. (Jan recommends the book, The Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff, if you want to learn more about this.)

For you, it might be to watch the wind move through a tree or how the flavors meld cooking or the way contrasting textures of color play in a painting.

Whatever.

The point is to find a metaphor that allows you to see life with wonder curiosity, magic, possibility, openness, compassion, peace and love.

And then to put that metaphor on as a pair of glasses to help you see the world through that lens.

Tell me, what kinds of flowers are the people in your life for you? What metaphoric lens do you use to help you see the beauty and connection in life?

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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.