Maybe it's my nature to want to care for living creatures, and with parenting moving toward enjoying the emerging adulthood of my children more than in finding ways to keep them from personal destruction, I've found that I am bringing more and more plants and flowers into my home and yard. With the new variety that surrounds me, I have needed to research and learn varying approaches to caring for these new additions. It never needed to occur to me that plant care is more than just "don't forget to water". Some plants need a lot of water all at once, then days of non-watering while others need consistent water, but not a deluge at any one time. Some plants need full sunshine while others require shade, and still others thrive in a balance of the two. Then there's the soil, the ph, the fertilizer, the container, etc...you get the picture. There is a lot more involved than my ignorance knew. Yes, I have had to research, but I have also had to relax my mind into accepting that there are many different ways to care for plants, and unless I am willing to change my "one-size-fits-all" attitude, I will have a lot of wilting and withering on my hands.
Flexibility in thinking is challenging for many of us. Admitting we don’t know things is often even harder. My friend and I shared breakfast this morning before she was going to be stretched...at a stretching place…called Stretch-lab...by a Flexologist. Having never heard of such a thing, I asked for an explanation, and could not help but see the relationship between flexibility as our physical need and flexibility as our mental need. My friend goes to be stretched and this has helped her to alleviate other physical ailments, as well as reduced her physical discomfort. By moving her muscles and joints in new ways that she would not be able to do on her own, the Flexologist is making a positive impact on her life.
How great would it be if this service were available for our mental state?!? Who stretches your thinking? Who removes your one-size-fits-all mental attitude? Who makes sure that you move from knowing only one way to care for, respond to or relate to plants (or family, or work) to accepting various ways depending on the species, the people and the situation? How much happier would we all be if we allowed our mind to be stretched and flexible in tolerating and maybe even accepting varying points of view, decisions, methods and paths? So often we remain content within a safe space where others all think as we do. We cultivate only geraniums when there are Zinnias and Roses and fields of other possibilities, if only we are willing to be flexible and learn about them and what they need in order to not wither and wilt.
Summer is a great time to let go of our rigidity and consider that there are different ways to encounter our world. Consider this a message from our Mental Flexologist: Your/My way is not the only way. Our point of view is not everyone's point of view. Our path is not everyone's path. Let's open our minds to being stretched and experiencing flexibility to see what others see, and maybe even try to understand why they see it that way. Our gardens will be a plethora of color and possibility, as our mental flexibility increases.
