Hope Along the Windowsill
On a whim and with low expectations of longevity, I bought an orchid in the grocery store a few years ago when I was living in North Carolina. It survived the journey up here and is now blooming for the first time in years. Many curious branchings venture along the windowsill, and several buds are lined up to bloom along with the one shown here.
The sight of the bloom in these dark days of winter has been surprisingly rewarding. Snapping me out of a gloom when I see it, the bloom and buds are reminders that growth can happen anywhere, anytime. I can still bloom personally even if the environment isn’t totally right.
If we continue the flower metaphor, we need to send forth new shoots that explore the world around us before we flower. We discover and locate the best spots for our energies. This requires a focused attention. It doesn’t mean sprawling everywhere at once. I’ve tried that. I was left exhausted and lacking direction. It means focusing in on a few key areas for dedicated attention, whether it be for professional development (advancement, a job change), family growth (moving to a new area because it’s the best thing for the family unit), or personally (learning more about steampunk because it’s strange and baffling but gosh darn it you want to understand why they wear that stuff).
For a bit of focus and personal discovery, consider the following poem by HD. So often, “violet” refers to a color, but in this poem, you feel, touch, smell, and physically engage with the environment of the violet on the beach.
The white violet
is scented on its stalk,
the sea-violet
fragile as agate,
lies fronting all the wind
among the torn shells
on the sand-bank.
The greater blue violets
flutter on the hill,
but who would change for these
who would change for these
one root of the white sort?
Violet
your grasp is frail
on the edge of the sand-hill,
but you catch the light-
frost, a star edges with its fire.
If you’re looking for more ways to educate yourself in a planned way, consider Khan Academy. They provide learning paths, so even if you wander around from one topic to another for a bit, you can always see what you have engaged with and how it relates to other topics. You learned about the Mayans? Well, maybe you want to tackle the Aztecs now.
Happy learning. Growth will come if we keep branching out.
