Sunday, August 24, 2014




Understanding myself as a plant has changed my entire existence.
It wasn't until I started rooting, growing, and propagating some small house plants and succulents that I saw myself this way. That I read the words and said, "Oh."
You see, we are all plants.
We are all plants, and we should live our lives and tend to ourselves as such.

When you understand how to care for something that has no words to speak to you, no mind to learn from you, no voice to answer you... you find truth there. You root, you tend, you spin yourself to the left to find the light that you were lacking. And you grow. And you are proud of what makes you different. And you strive. 

So today, be a succulent.
This week, begin to understand yourself.
These next few moths, trim what's pulling from your energy.
And I promise, seeing yourself as a plant will change you.

Light.
Each type of plant needs different levels of it, lives off of it, turns itself towards it where it is lacking, grows to it. A plant knows when it is lacking light, and it fights for every bit of it that it needs... for a plant cannot grow without the light that it requires. If a succulent isn't getting its required amount, it gets leggy. A cactus will lean and stretch. A tree will bend... and as a caretaker, if we see these things happening to our plants, we spin them, we move them to a brighter window, we work to give them the light they require for them to reach their potential.
So I began to move myself. I took a look at who I was, which sides of me were burning causing my other parts to die. Found where I was yellowing, took into account when and how I was bending myself. Where my hands were gripping and pulling my body to follow. In what light I would grow best. I would grow tall. I could root.

See light as positivity. As your strengths. As your happiness... and fight for the best of it. Give equally to all of your sides. Plant yourself where it blankets you, shine it on the parts of your soul that have been lacking. Give light to your darkness. See the positive in the negative. Understand consequences and whys. Do not dwell in things you cannot change. Practice. Learn. Lean. Spin. Grow.

Soil
Like light, plants need good soil. Not all plants need the same soil. Where a seed may need rich, moist soil, a cactus prefers the complete opposite. Soil is a plants nutrition, its food. Without the right nutrition, a plant will suffer. In the wrong dirt, a plant can die.

And so it is that simple. Eating what was given to us by the earth is best. Clean eating will change so much in you. Caring for your insides. Keeping the engine of our bodies clean. Your nutritional health so much effects your mental health. Understanding what each plant can provide you... strong bones, energy, vitamins A, B, C..., fiber, cardiovascular health. Some sooth your stomach, some fight bacteria, some make your skin glow. Too much of one, too little of another. It's actually a beautiful thing to both understand and practice.

Watering
Water yourself there.
Water yourself where you wish to grow.
Do not let your roots sit in the water that rots you.
Extremities have yet to prove anything beneficial to me, let your roots dry between waterings. When you do water, water yourself thoroughly. Let every tip of every root drink. Find the perfect balance.

Fertilizer
Most plants do not need a lot of fertilizer. Watering with a good fertilizer once a month is usually all that they require to maintain balanced growth, to please lacking soil.
In other words, treat yo'self.
Give yourself a reward. 
Have a donut, paint your nails, take a midday nap.
After all, this is your one, wild and precious life.
Enjoy it.

Flowering and trimming. (One of my favorites).
"Sedum all have different bloom times and colors ranging from pink, red and yellow. Sempervivums will bloom after the second or third year. A flower stalk will shoot up from the center of the main rosette with a cluster of flowers. After the flower dies, gently twist off the stalk. The main rosette has put on new offsets that will fill in."
When plants have stalks that flower and die, if you do not cut those stalks, the plant will continue to put energy into them. Why put energy into a place that does not benefit from it? That takes from your plants roots? That keeps your plant from growing?  Where are you expending pointless energy?
Which relationships are helping you grow and which were sucking you dry?
Not all love stories are meant to last.
Not all friendships benefit from being everlasting.
A relationship without roots will never grow.
"Trim the fat."
Let go of those who hold you back.
Do not grow a sad heart for those relationships- take them for everything positive that they gave you, for what they taught you, speak up, break off, "the main rosette will put on new offsets that will fill in."
You are transforming a heart and body here that are ever growing, ever changing, ever learning, ever rooting.
In the places that you accept death, you can bloom.
With this acceptance you can grow back faster, heartier, greener.
And in life as a plant, we aim for growth.

2 comments:

  1. It's a joy to witness your blooming.

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  2. This post took my breathe away, Ashley! Easier reading this than in practice, but a wise reminder. Inspiring. xx

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