This moment with the flowers brought so much joy to me. Flowers always lift my spirits when I am in their presence. This isn’t just my experience. Everyone I know loves being in the presence of flowers and giving and receiving them. They feel overjoyed to have flowers. “Common sense tells us that flowers make us happy, Now, science shows that not only do flowers make us happier than we know, they have strong positive effects on our emotional well being.”Those are the words of Jeannette Haviland-Jones, Ph.D., a Professor of Psychology at Rutgers. A study was done there on how flowers as part of Nature can boost our emotional health.
Flowers are very important for emotional health. These days we’re fortunate to have a plethora of information about both emotional health and its counterpart,”emotional intelligence,” to read and learn from. When it comes to the way having a flower or flowers can make us feel, we don’t need any book, doctor, or scholar to tell us how good one flower can make us feel. It’s an experience we have all had at one time or the other.
I bought the flowers in the photo above one day when I stopped at a small green-grocer’s to buy some fruit. It made me very happy to buy them and I knew they would bring joy and happiness to me for days to come. The Chinese proverb above resonates with me because it’s not only sustenance for the body that we need. We need to feed what brings joy to our souls and spirits. Flowers have a powerful way of doing this. Whether they’re wildflowers, cultivated ones, cut flowers, or arrangements, they all do the same job.
I’m sure that everyone’s familiar with the saying, “Take time to smell the roses.” Flowers give us the opportunity to slow down for just a moment and whether we smell them or not, we’re overcome by their beauty. In our busy world and lives, it’s good to slow down sometimes. Life is short and it’s good to avail ourselves of all those special moments we might miss if we’re not taking the time to appreciate them.
During this Covid-19 time of social distancing, I saw an ad from a flower shop saying: “Give a hug with stems.” A flower or a bouquet of flowers feels like a big hug – at least to me. We’re lucky that it’s the time of year when flowers abound everywhere. You can give someone a big hug or you can give yourself a big hug too. Go and buy a nice bunch of cut flowers for yourself. Let the beauty of Nature nurture you at this time. Better yet, if you have a garden with lots of flowers, you can “say it with flowers.” How about wildflowers – they are stunningly beautiful too!
By Leon Hansen
Take some time to smell the flowers
As you walk the path of life.
Take some time to ease the tensions
From the challenges and strife.
Take some time to hear the birds sing
As they usher in the dawn.
Though the day be just emerging,
Too soon it will be gone.
Take some time to watch a sunrise,
Now and then a sunset too.
Just be sure that seeking pleasure
Isn’t all you ever do.
Take some time to count your blessings,
Though you feel they’re not that great.
You will find they’re more abundant
Than you thought, at any rate.
Take some time to banish hatred
When and where you can.
Just detest man’s evil ways
And not your fellow man.
Take some time to love your children
Every moment you are free.
The benefits exceedeth
A university degree.
Take some time to love your neighbor
And even more important still,
Take some time to love yourself
Or not many others will.
And if you don’t like that image
Of yourself that others see,
Take some time to make some changes,
Be the best that you can be.
Take some time to help another
Who you think might need a hand.
You will find the satisfaction
Leaves you feeling sort of grand.
Take some time to live by virtue
In the best way that is known,
And respect the rights of others
As equal to your own.
Take some time to just appreciate
The fact that you are here,
And to know that Higher Power
And to trust It without fear.
If you do these things with diligence
You will eventually be glad.
If you don’t attempt to do them
You may one day wish you had.
Although this no doubt could impose
Upon your time for seeking wealth,
There should be little question
That it could improve your health.
And though you might not be as wealthy
Nor drive so fine a car,
You’ll find you will be richer
In other ways by far.
“Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty out values all the utilities in the world.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
