Tag Archives for flowers

Mood Soothing Blooms

Yesterday I was having a tough day, with respect to pain and mood. Of course, in my case, one feeds the other and sends me into a downward spiral of agony. The day had started reasonably well – even though I hadn’t slept much the night before – then an abrupt about-face came because I was angered by something someone said to me. I know that becoming angry doesn’t work in my favour – it never has –, but controlling one’s temper isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

With the hope that it might pull me out of my prickly mood, I practiced a guided iRest meditation, but my mind kept skipping out to engage with other thoughts and memories. I had, however, committed at the beginning of the meditation to accept whatever might show up during my practice so I didn’t stop before the end of the recording. When it finished I was grateful that I worked through it because, as I usually do, I felt sleepy. I was able to fall off to sleep for about an hour until my slumber was interrupted; first by a phone call from my pharmacy and then immediately after hanging up, by a heavy knock at my door.

My annoyance was elevated again because the short sleep hadn’t helped to reduce my pain, so walking to my front door was more than uncomfortable. I was further annoyed when the person hammering my door refused to identify himself until I opened it. When I did open the door, he asked me my name from behind what appeared to be a box overflowing with shocking pink and white tissue paper that he handed to me. Because I was still somewhat foggy with sleep, I almost lost my balance when the weight of the box shifted to my hands. When I shut the door, I was a bit confused by what had just happened because I wasn’t expecting any deliveries.

Mood Soothing Blooms

The overstuffed box of tissue paper turned out to be a beautiful bouquet of a dozen assorted roses. The timing of their arrival couldn’t have been planned more accurately. I knew who sent them as soon as I ripped off the paper and saw each beautiful bright bloom and I was so grateful they arrived when they did. The flowers lifted my mood and proved to be a welcome gift of distraction from what I was feeling physically and emotionally. I know they were meant to be a Valentine’s Day gift, but they delivered a more meaningful message by arriving a day early. They remind me that even though others might engage in negative behaviours, which I sometimes allow to affect me too deeply, there are always those who love and value me for who I am.

Thank you B!

 

After InkTober Is Over

Now that InkTober is over, I feel a bit out of sorts. I don’t have a daily prompt to look forward to, like I did for the entire month of October, nudging me down a particular path, whether with my thoughts or the topic to draw. I liked having that daily structure. Modifying the challenge for myself to focus on my mindfulness practice – as I set out to do on Day 1  – increased my enjoyment, even though some days it was harder to get into the flow of writing without my thoughts constantly wandering off topic. I suppose it did help me to practice mindfulness because I needed to bring my thoughts back to what I had chosen to write about and stay with it to finish a coherent piece.

I also realized during the InkTober challenge that I’m not sure what my preferred drawing style or techniques are and that showed in what I produced. Although I managed to surprise myself on some days with my drawings, I had to stretch my artistic abilities. After some thought, what I’ve decided to do now to maintain a daily creative practice, instead of doodling or drawing or writing poetry when the mood hits me, is select one of the many creative books I’ve been stockpiling and work through it as if taking a course. I may not post my progress every day because I learned how tiring it could be, mentally and physically, to push myself to complete a daily challenge. However, even if I don’t post about it I will be occupying myself with something to improve my creative skills and to ward off boredom.

I also need to get back to where I left off writing about all my medical treatments and misadventures. I obviously haven’t written about that part of my world for a while, but there are still things happening that I hope might be helpful to others living with issues like mine. I’ve had a new medication added to my pain management cocktail and I have two important additions to my treatment plan coming up, which I’m counting on to deliver some changes to my health, but if they don’t maybe someone reading about them will benefit from them. The first addition is a six-week mindfulness and yoga-based chronic pain management course called iRest. The course starts next week and my therapist referred me to it. The second is a more invasive procedure that will happen under my pain specialist’s supervision at the hospital in the day/ambulatory surgery clinic.

I no longer have daily prompts, but I will have lots to keep me busy. With all the upcoming activity, I have to remind myself of the most important take-away I learned from InkTober: that even though some of it might be fun, I don’t have to finish everything at once.

Bright Cone Flower Sketch - October 2016

 

Flourishing: An Ode To A Yellow Four-Nerve Daisy

After a night of mostly interrupted sleep, I was awake early this morning. To fill my time in the early morning hours I visited the sites of some of the truly interesting people I follow in the online world. One blog I found myself drawn into this morning was Portraits of Wildflowers where Steven Schwartzman shares uniquely beautiful images of wildflowers and other flora and fauna he discovers on his excursions into nature. Looking at his photographs, I don’t feel so shut away and I learn things I wouldn’t have an opportunity to otherwise.

This morning as I clicked through some of his recent posts, I had visceral reactions to some of the images. One in particular, a photo of a hairy white larkspur flower (Delphinium carolinianum ssp. Penardii) before its petals opened, made the hair on my body stand on end. I can’t remember having that kind of reaction to a flower before. The image of a rain-lily (Cooperia pedunculata) tricked my eyes into seeing the soft brush strokes of a floral portrait. While the bent stalk of a bright yellow four-nerve daisy (Tetraneuris linearifolia), and the words Steven Schwartzman used to describe its fate, inspired my brain to connect with the tips of my fingers to create an ode to that single delicate bloom.

Bent but still flourishing © 2016 Steven Schwartzman

Bent but still flourishing © 2016 Steven Schwartzman

 

On days like today, I don’t mind not having slept much. Creating something has a way of making me feel grounded and easing agitation and anxiety that is sometimes caused by a lack of sleep. Besides, how can I not feel lifted by a bright yellow daisy or Steven Schwartzman’s generosity in granting me permission to post his image?

Flourishing