Feed Your Soul With Flowers

CHAPTER 3 : CONNECTION (INSERT IMAGE 0986) ‘Surround yourself with people who give you energy.’ – Dr. Tererai Trent The beauty of flowers is a direct reflection of our inner beauty as spiritual beings having a human experience. This beauty derives from one source. The pure light source energy that is eternal life. Flowers hold the power to make us feel good, positive energy because they are the essence of it. I believe they are the closest tangible living things to what we can see from our origins as living beings, all having derived from one source energy. They have the power to take us from dark to light if we allow it. For me, the interconnectedness of all living things can be best felt through arranging flowers. The more I play, the less separate I feel until there is no I or them––only oneness. But what do we need to be connected to? We must connect with ourselves, loved ones, those in our community, and most importantly––nature. We need to bring flowers and plants into our living spaces, even more so if we don’t have gardens to access on a daily basis. A study by the Department of Horticulture at Kansas State University showed that ornamental indoor plants in hospital rooms significantly enhanced the health outcomes of patients recovering from surgery. They found that patients in rooms with flowers and plants had notably lower ratings of pain and anxiety compared with patients in the control room.3 Artist Claude Monet deeply understood the immense power of flowers. His friend Antonin Proust was quoted saying of Monet that, ‘All it took to restore his good spirits was the sight of a flower. Monet would exclaim, “I’d like to paint them all.”’ How to Stay Connected Feed the body – with sleep, nutritious food, exercise, sun, clean air, fresh water Feed the mind – knowledge, positivity, inspirational stories Feed the soul – connections with people, animals, plants, flowers, nature, beauty Jeannette Haviland-Jones Ph.D, Professor of Psychology at Rutgers University is quoted as saying, ‘Science shows that not only do flowers make us happier than we know, they have strong positive effects on our emotional well being.’1 So naturally staying connected with flowers and plants helps us to stay connected with the universal source of life chi energy that we so desire and need. Flowers hold that positive energy! ACTION POINT: Family Arrangement This flower arrangement involves choosing flowers and materials that have a common thread but are varied in shapes and textures. This signifies the diversity in families and communities and highlights how our variations bring life and energy. The differences expose each other's true beauty, and together we live connected as one. Once we are connected to ourselves, others and nature, it enables us to more easily enter a state of flow. It’s the state of flow that opens up our creativity; a place where time does not exist. Utilise your emotions by allowing them to guide you for inspiration i.e. if you're feeling joyous you might be pulled towards colourful varieties. Perhaps the seasons might guide you too i.e. winter may give you feelings of wanting to be warm and cosy, so you may move towards warm oranges, copper and tones of reds. Ingredients Reeds – representing weeds––often we see things as unwanted nuisances (like weeds) until we take the time to get connected to it and find the magic or the lesson Flannel Flower – a native flower representing our connection to home Spider Grass – representing our need for flow and how being connected can induce a state of flow Tulips – representing the growth we receive by spending time with family and in our community. Tulips continue to grow in water once cut from the plant. Snowballs – placed at the base of the design to represent our base as a support for grounding us Freesia – representing the different gifts we have to share and contribute––the gift of the freesia is its scent Chamomile – representing a calming presence and the need to feel connected to our source––it can be achieved through meditation, yin or kundalini yoga, being in nature, taking a bath, drinking herbal tea, flower arranging, reading, gardening etc. Design Steps Gather a series of vases of varied shapes and/or sizes, using as many or as few as you like. I use one for each family member. Fill each vase ⅓-½ full with clean water I suggest using as many different varieties of flowers as you have vases, so for example if you are using six vases, use six different types of flowers. Evenly divide each bunch of blooms into each of the vases. Some stems will need to be cut much shorter to fit into any shorter vases you have. The idea is to create a gathering of each variety in each vase and then cluster the vases together as a group. The group of vases represents your family and that you all have a mix of each other's DNA within you, making you uniquely connected. The same exercise can be used to represent your wider community or even for your personal inner community of spirit guides.