Wellbeing notes: a time to bloom
01/04/2021 at 10:00 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: Blossom, hanami, meditation, spring, wellbeing
The cherry blossom around our neighbourhood is beginning to open up like tissue paper, lit through with sunlight. I try not to have favourites among the seasons but it is painfully easy to fall in love with blossom time. The Japanese word for this brief glimpse of heaven on earth is Hanami, or ‘flower viewing’ and round about now, all over Japan, crowds are flocking to view the delicate beauty that appears and then is gone.
In England we honour spring flowers in more low-key ways but I’m pretty certain that walking among our local blossom acts as a wellbeing tonic like no other. If you are feeling low, or pessimistic, just go and bathe your senses beneath a cherry, plum or apple tree. As you do so, you may well find yourself fully present in the moment – a form of meditation in itself.
Meditating or simply reflecting on blossom brings valuable insights into the passing of time… and into what the future may bring. When I study a dark branch dotted with fresh, light blooms, I am conscious that this spring moment will pass quickly – and this is surely a truth that applies to people as well as trees. So then I fast-forward my thoughts to the way that a good percentage of the blossoms will become fruit; and then I fast-forward once more to see that a small percentage of the fruit will seed new trees. And I find that thought oddly cheering because it suggests that all the kind, encouraging and inspiring thoughts we have; all the positive thoughts we put into action… some of these will bear fruit in ways we can never possibly imagine.
Choosing bluebell pathways
26/04/2019 at 11:07 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 4 CommentsTags: inspiration, meditation, mindfulness, nature, spring
At the weekend I was lucky enough to be shown Duncliffe Wood, in Dorset. It had been raining heavily, which meant this ancient woodland was largely empty of visitors, like a forest from a bygone era. The rain was still falling lightly as we walked through clouds of purple blooms. The ground was bumpy with odorous leaf mould and sap-filled roots, and the subtle bluebell fragrance lay all about us, mist-like.
There were many small paths through the woodland. Every few paces, it seemed, there was a new choice of route. At first we chose carefully, and then it dawned on us that the route didn’t really matter. Every choice was the right choice. This was a walk that meant us to meander, to explore, to absorb the bright spring vitality of the place.
When the walk finished, I carried away my own share of that diffuse purple bluebell energy which lay like a shimmering ball in my cupped hands. The next day I felt a portion of the ball pour out into two meditation sessions that I hosted. Afterwards there was still plenty left to pour around my house and garden, and into the everyday jobs I had to do there. Then some flowed into my writing and yet more seeped on to my list of things to do, muddling the tidy lines, creating watercolour opportunities that changed shape as I looked at them.
It was just a little walk. But its fragrance will linger, I think, for a goodly time.
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Suzanne Askham 