Do you have a favorite flower? It is very difficult for me to choose a favorite, for there is such a vast array of floral beauty! I must say, though, that I am perhaps drawn most to the sunflower.
What an amazingly stunning flower. They are unusually tall for a flower, some growing to as much as 10 feet tall! When they are growing, they tilt towards the sun. I always think of them as a ‘happy flower’ as well as a ‘sturdy flower.’ And then after the growing season is over, their seeds are wonderful to harvest and eat! Just roast them a bit, sprinkle a little salt, and what a great nutritious treat! Sunflower seeds may be tiny, but they pack a nutritious punch. They are a great source of many vitamins and nutrients, including over 100 percent of the daily recommended intake of copper, manganese, and selenium.
OK…so, obviously I do love sunflowers. This past week, I learned something new about them which endeared them even more – read this poster.
Isn’t that just a great piece of knowledge??!!! It just washed over me how in our lives, when our world is cloudy and gray, the energy we receive from each other is simply life giving. Sometimes we hide away when our personal world seems so gloomy and disturbing. Just having another person to sit with us, to share that space with us, gives a very different energy.
I’ve reflected on that recently as several people that I love have stayed in my home during their rehab from surgery. The good energy from just being with people who care is amazing.
Perhaps following the lead of sunflowers, which face each other during cloudy and gray skies, is a marvelous image for this week!
Breathe, take in the goodness around you, image who your sunflower partners might be. Exhale what you do not need. Then breathe again, image intact!
Even better, find a sunflower partner and simply be together.
Life has amazing natural ways of helping us heal, live, and balance in all kinds of weather.
Have a grand week!
Lucretia Hurley-Browning, MDiv, MS, is a guest writer whose recent background includes Chaplain of Abramson Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Director of Juniper Tree Counseling Center. She is a therapist and ordained United Methodist Minister. Currently she is a writer by day, a reader by night, and is passionate about living life meaningfully with a good dose of fun.