.....dandelions and violets

Yogis,
Last Sunday I returned home from ten days at the beach. A wonderful week filled with long walks, yard clean up (which I enjoy), cooking and relaxing, yet in the back of my mind I was concerned that I might have missed the blooming of some plants in my yard. This time of year, when you head out of town for even a short time it can feel like you are arriving back to a completely different season.   

Pulling up the gravel driveway I scan the yard. The grass sits much taller now with tufts of spring garlic towering above. My fig has leaves.  I look closer. There they are! Dozens of bright yellow smiling faces looking my way surrounded by a sea of delicate nodding purple heads. Hello friends!

Dandelion and violet can be counted on to blanket the lawn with color in mid-April and they hadn’t disappointed.

I quickly unload the car, grab my mason jars and head outside. It’s a beautiful day and the sun is shining. Perfect weather to say hello, spend time together and make earth medicine. Dandelion flowers will soak in olive oil to make a salve for dry or damaged skin. Violet flowers, when placed in my white wine vinegar, will turn it a stunning vibrant pink and she will share with me her vitamins and minerals as I use the vinegar over the year.

Gifts.

   

When we think of gifts we often think of the present we buy a friend on her birthday. An object. Yet gifts involve an energy. If I hand you something you asked for, or I buy a new sweater, those are not gifts, even though there was an exchange. What makes a gift a gift?

A gift requires a giver. Someone/something expressing the energy of giving. But there must also be a receiver, or else there is no gift. And that receiver must express the energy of receiving. Which when activated becomes a gift back to the giver. A cycle. A current.

Sometimes it feels easier to be a good giver than a receiver.

Water is a master teacher of the receiving energy. If I stand down by the river and throw in a log, the river opens herself up, accepts the log and wraps her arm around it. She doesn’t ‘send it back’ or resist. She won’t tell me she wished I had thrown in a rock instead. She won’t say ‘you shouldn’t have’ or be embarrassed. She receives what I give. Fully.

The universe gives us gifts daily. Am I fulfilling my receiver role? The colors of the trees this week…..the way the sun shines through my windows as she sets……the crescent moon low in a clear night sky……a cool breeze on my warm cheek as I sit quietly collecting violet flowers. All gifts.

Am I aware?  Do I notice the gifts and receive them, or have I just come to expect them? Am I doing my part to keep the energy circulating…….

The saying is ‘the more you give, the more you will receive’, but I am also witnessing that the more I consciously receive, the more gifts come my way.

This week I opened my heart to receive them all. Each one perfect. I noticed them, pointing my awareness their way and spoke out loud. Thank you, Universe! Thank you, dandelions! Thank you, violets! I see you!

A relationship is formed. The cycle continues……

Receiving gifts,
SARAH