I’m loving these daily creative activities. I’ve called them arrows of desire, and that has turned out to be more accurate than I first imagined. As I draw a slip of paper each day, with the activity written upon it, I’m launching an arrow of desire. It has been amazing to follow the arrow then, to see what target it hits.
This morning I randomly selected:
Plant seeds.
This is the activity I thought I was going to draw yesterday. I don’t know why. As I reached into the glass pitcher, this creative task came to mind. Today, it became reality. And happily so.
My garden is my happy place. I love puttering in my backyard paradise, engaging in activities that range from pulling weeds to planting herbs and flowers to layering on mulch. I like getting my hands dirty as I tuck plants into the ground. And my creativity shines here as I use unusual containers for plantings and repurpose family treasures into garden beauties.
I harvested seeds last fall for the first time. I started seedlings earlier in the spring but I still had an abundance of seeds left over. This afternoon, as grey clouds piled up overhead, I started a second batch of seeds in my rectangular metal box.
Lavender, white and purple coneflowers, clematis, black eyed Susan and fireworks flower seeds all got scattered in rows in the rich potting mix. I thought about how the potential for a gorgeous flower already exists in each tiny seed. Given the right environment, they will flourish. Ah, I thought, this is my deeper lesson today. This is the target my arrow of desire is leading me to.
But no. That was not the target. As I finished labeling clothes pins and attached them to the side of the metal box, a stillness came over me. It’s as if time slowed way down. That’s the equivalent of a tap on my shoulder…a signal to pay attention.
I wrote the name of each flower on a clothes pin, and attached it to the box to identify which plant is which as they begin to push through the soil. I realized I did that for my benefit and my own purposes. The tiny seeds contain the complete, beautiful flowers within them. They don’t need the labels. They just need a supportive environment and they will do the rest. Grow. Bloom. And be, exactly what they are meant to be. Without the help of labels.
This deeper truth, around the simple and fun act of planting seeds, made tears come to my eyes. I don’t need labels to thrive either. Realtor, writer, woman, mom, intuitive…these labels help other people to identify who I am. As I continue to grow, who I am is evident. I am me. I am Cindy. Or Mithril, with the shining silvery heart. Really, I just am.
And so is everyone else. They don’t need me to label them, or identify who they are. Their potential is complete within the seed of who they are. They are growing. Blooming. Being exactly who they are created to be. I can help, not by labeling who they will be, but by contributing to an environment that supports their glorious and beautiful growth.
And you know what? My seeds don’t need labels either. Off the clothes pins came. I’ll watch the plants grow and as they develop I’ll know what they are. May this creative exercise serve as a reminder to me that labels are only necessary on items I buy. I don’t need them to be who I am. And neither does anyone else. Here’s to being label free.
