It's all about the conditions.

Flowers bloom. So do people and lots of things… in the right conditions. As a teacher I know this and it is so easy to see that children already know how to grow, learn and love life. There is no forcing necessary, only the preparing of the environment for life to do its own thing. This is why I love teaching- because I get to work with one of the best secrets of life, that if you can help a child along the way of understanding themselves and their own gifts, there is no limit to the miracle of what emerges, unique and necessary to the world. The problem comes when we don’t trust this process, when we want something to be different than it is. When we don’t trust the wisdom curled up inside and help it to find its own expression, we can actually be working against nature and our goals.  

Flowers bloom. So do people and lots of things.

I walked outside this morning, Nov. 1st, and saw a flower had come up that I didn’t remember planting last year, as it didn’t come up this summer. We had a hot (for England) and dry summer, and the usual plantings just didn’t behave predictably. Now that it is slightly cooler and wet, everything is popping out saying ok! I recognise these conditions. It really got me thinking as to my own career and art and anything we want to create in life. We do all the preparing and follow the steps, and sometimes the results aren’t predictable. This is frustrating! I find myself going into ‘trying harder.’ Working hard is good, but there is a difference. It is so easy to go into a forcing mode and want to just do more, more, more of whatever it is- sell more CDs, write better songs, practice more, get more press- all of these things are important but the minute they become the goal, the energy is misplaced, and not going into what it should be- the art. Sometimes it calls into question the very thing we are trying to create and we begin to doubt ourselves, doubt that it’s good enough,  doubt that it is worth it. This is when nature is the best   teacher, and I find myself like a beginner at times in my ability to allow the organic process to occur, as much as I believe in it.

It is such a relief and a blessing to see these flowers this morning (even if it is unseasonably warm) and to be reminded that, duh, things happen. People grow. If I plant a seed, and go about the daily work of nurturing it, chances are it will grow. And it will grow into what the conditions allow. We can’t control all conditions; this is the hard part to accept. Some conditions don’t allow for what we originally had planned for, but I do believe that the creative process is still beautiful, worth sharing and taking part in. Keep cultivating the conditions. Beyond fate, we are made of stuff that is programmed to bloom.