Hello Friends,
I hope your week has gone well. I hope you have scheduled time to be in nature this week, and literally go smell the roses. Life goes by quickly, so let us cherish all we have.
As a point of inspiration on the flower theme, I offer you this. Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh speaks eloquently of “flower watering”, how we have seeds within us, and it is up to us which ones we will water. We can water the seeds of hatred, anger and revenge, or we can water the seeds of love, compassion and joy. It is up to us how we tend to our inner garden.
“Flower Watering is a chance to share our appreciation for the other person. We may mention specific instances that the other person said or did something that we had admired. This is an opportunity to shine light on the other’s strengths and contributions to the Sangha and to encourage the growth of his or her positive qualities.
Recognizing others positive traits allows us to see our own good qualities as well. Along with these good traits, we each have areas of weakness, such as talking out of our anger or being caught in our misperceptions.
When we practice “flower watering” we support the development of good qualities in each other and at the same time we help to weaken the difficulties in the other person.
As in a garden, when we “water the flowers” of loving kindness and compassion in each other, we also take energy away from the weeds of anger, jealousy and misperception.”
-- Thich Nhat Hanh
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