Here is a November rose. Whole bushes were blooming at the edge of a shopping mall parking lot last Sunday, as I fumbled in the cold for my camera.
Imagine…
A rose doesn’t cower in the presence of conditions. It doesn’t say, “It’s November – do I dare create another flower?”
or
“I’ve done enough already!”
or
“It might be too cold – I might be too old – for a new round of colour at this point…”
or
“I just don’t think I have the resources.”
A rose doesn’t say, “I can’t make more flowers now because they won’t be perfect.”
It doesn’t worry, “What if my blooms aren’t as good as the ones on that bush over there?”
or
“What if I get hurt, or WORSE – What if I fail and others laugh at me?”
or
“There’s no point in trying again because my flowers never get noticed…”
or
“Okay, I’ll do it! Just not right now. I’ll wait to bloom when it’s more convenient.”
Of course, roses are not human. They simply flower.
At the edge of a city lot, the rose pictured here has no choice but to bloom through three seasons, pause for one, and bloom again. No limiting thoughts, no fear. No options.
You and I, on the other hand – we do have options. We make choices all the time, even when we forget we’re making them. We are constantly creating with our powerful minds, either consciously or unconsciously. And we get to choose whether we create by design or default.
One of the ways people inadvertently create by default is by constantly, unquestioningly, adhering to limiting thoughts and beliefs. Those old patterns of thought perpetuate limiting habits. More of the same creates more of the same: a kind of trance.
Dreams are nipped in the bud.
We don’t arrive in this world with limiting beliefs. They’re conditioned into us – and often by the nicest of people. People who love us. People who seek to protect us at all costs. Beautiful, intelligent, respectable people.
Yet the age-old message?
Better to play small and safe than to play full out. Better to let conditions dictate, than to live from a vision of the life you truly feel called to live.
The effect?
We contract even as we yearn to grow.
Then we harden.
We start to believe that we’re a personality, and not a soul – that we’re a degree (or not), a house (or not), a profession (or not), a relationship (or not), a sizable bank account (or not), a string of titles (or not), and, dare I say, a brand…
Notice the flower in this picture. It will never shrink back into the bud. It can’t. And neither will you and I once we’ve made the choice to step into a fuller version of aliveness.
An emblem of love, this hardy flower reminds us there is no greater moment to be in than right now.
Right now you and I are in the only moment there is. A moment of freedom. And we really do have the freedom to choose again – and to choose differently than before, if that’s what we desire.
Next week I’ll write more on shifting beyond old “paradigms” – those limiting thoughts, beliefs, and habits that get in the way of our full blooming. I’ll share tips for living more freely and aligned with your core sense of purpose.
In the meantime, I encourage you to create TWO new practices:
1. Define a vision for the life you’d truly love to live. Write it down and commit to making your vision statement an evolving document for an evolving life.
2. When old patterns surface – when you hear yourself repeating negative, limiting self-talk – replace the old with the new. Create empowering and expansive messages, and repeat them daily. Write a new script for a new version of you, and for a freer, more fulfilling and expansive life.
What would feel better, more meaningful, and more life-giving to you right now?
What gifts have you come here to give?
When you ask, “What would I love?” you are speaking to your Soul.
Let it answer you in flowers.
