Spring - Lessons from a Small Flower

Image by Bronwen Hall

Spring has Sprung

Here in Australia it is spring time and the weather is warming, the birds are swooping and all the flowers are coming out in colour. Spring is a sign for new life and renewal. Spring is when nature frees her internal energy that has been hibernating for winter in the form of blooms, blossoms and babies. In Spring the death rate drops as people see the signs of rebirth and new life around them.

Outside our office window is a small garden and path. Over the last few days, I have watched a small flower break through the earth. The garden is also full of new blossoms, yet one small flower has fought the obstacles in its way, and burst into the world with a blaze of colour, facing the risk of being trampled on by careless individuals away from the masses.

What an inspiration this small bloom is to the world as it pushes past life's roadblocks with innate wisdom, courage and determination on its way to fulfill its purpose.

Think for a moment. Imagine you are the flower seed. You are paved over and buried in the cold and the dark. Is there hope? What are your chances of survival let alone thriving? Which way is up? What do you do when you hit those inevitable obstacles? Well as a seed, you do not worry about such things. It start taking the necessary steps to move towards the light and working around and through those obstacles. Does it quit? Do it give up? NO! Because that means it will die.

So, be like this little flower and live with determination, so you too can spring forth and realise your purpose in all the beauty that nature intended.

Let us remember the message of spring and release the seed of life that each of us holds inside.

Under the bitter snow is a seed which in the spring will become a rose

Every oak tree started out as a nut who stood their ground - Henry David Thoreau

Spring - Lessons from a Small Flower

JOY

I am so lucky to always have Joy in my life. She is my step-mother and is a Joy by nature as well as name. So it is a running family joke that our family occasions always includes Joy.

Yet it is important that we not take Joy for granted. How do you find Joy in your life? That blissful, peaceful happiness that too often comes at a high price. When we learn the lesson of mortality and suddenly what seemed to be important you realise isn't. Things that used to annoy you, don't seem to be significant. You learn that what is really important are the people who you love and who love you.

Imagine that your time is limited, because it is!! Then every moment will become precious. When you step outside appreciate the flowers as it may be the last flower that you see. Time then becomes a gift instead of something to race against or kill or a burden. You can choose to spend it with the people you love doing things that bring you Joy instead of doing things that are meaningless. You can wear what ever you like and not be concerned what others may think. When you live in the now even the weather becomes fascinating rather than a problem. That frost covered windscreen turns into one of mother nature's awesome works of art instead of a nuisance.

Take Joy and pleasure from what lies around you, be in awe of the beauty in the world. Really consider the quote by Dr Bernie Seigel "Seeing something for the last time is almost as good as the first." Pretend that you are an alien every morning and see the world as if you were seeing it for the first time. or just go back to childhood and allow yourself to experience that child-like wonder where even a leaf or a worm can be a pleasure to behold.

Today I ask that you bask in the beauty and the variety in the world before you and discover all the places that you too can find Joy and Love in your personal world.

JOY