I need a day where I interrupt my stressed out feelings with something pretty. Something beautiful. A mere image to capture my attention and turn it away from the crazy week I have been having.
I can’t say I am inspired to write much of anything. Perhaps this lack of inspiration should be a sign to take a break, slow down, find something pretty and think on that.
So, that’s what I’m doing today. I am sharing a picture of some stunning flowers that I took while I was visiting my Father-in-Law in SE Asia last summer. It feels like a moment ago, but it was a year — almost.
Yes! This bunch of flowers have been picked just for you!
It seems a little odd to think of fresh flowers during these deep, dark January days. Unless you have a Birthday or particular celebration, flowers are not very seasonal this time of year. Even at the famous Pike Place Market here in Seattle, most of our local flower farms are selling dried stems that have a beauty all their own, but do not hold the scent and look and feel of fresh ones.
However, this is probably the time of year when we need a bouquet the most. I know Valentine’s Day is around the corner and the flowers will be pricey and in demand, but the quiet, slow, deep winter days where no flowers are to be found let alone thought about feels like the perfect time to treat one’s self or to pick a few stems for a friend or even plant a bulb inside your warm home.
Something about the flowers and their beauty can brighten an otherwise mundane day and remind each of us that the days are lengthening and that spring is not far away.
If a bunch of real flowers are simply not possible, you can definitely create a bouquet in your visual journal. Clip out all the flowers you see in your magazines and make the most beautiful arrangement of flowers you have seen. This is a simple yet wonderful way to dwell in beauty as you use your creativity and intuitive sense of what you are naturally drawn too.
Overall, flowers are alive and can be present with us throughout the days and seasons. It may be an upside down idea to have flowers in January, but that’s what makes it precious!
