Living and Leaving!

When this bunch of flowers got placed in the vase it had left its normal life in its plant. The bunch of flowers stayed rather fresh for ten days in the vase decorating the meeting room table in the department where I work . When it showed signs of withering, the flowers were allowed to stay in the vase till they began to drop one by one. Even when a new table cloth was spread on the table the flowers were  retained .

When the bunch of flowers were finally replaced with new flowers, I looked back over the two weeks the flowers refreshed us in the room! The candles on either side of the flower vase which were lit during our meeting times brought to the ambience the memory of life and its fullness. But that too would fade away finally.

I reflected on this a lot during this week which was an eventful week. A mother told me that ' I left her confused' at the end of a fifty minutes consultation when she recalled what she did not receive enough. I remembered from earlier experiences that she was used to demanding and insisting to receive what she felt entitled for, most of which reflected her unsettled inner world. 

That helped me to reflect on a lesson from this flower bunch. It was removed from where it belonged to and yet it stayed on in the vase enriching others. It did suffer loss when it was forcefully plucked. Its life was shaken but not shortened. Even with that sense of loss, the flowers did not fold up, but stayed open to share their colour and fragrance. 

Every time a family visits me, I want to offer  role them a flower. I often have flowers in a vase on a table adjacent to my work table to remind me that I have been placed here to be in a self giving role!

The flowers give life to others even when they suffered trauma of separation from their plants. This thought remains with me as a calling as I draw this week to a close. 

Those who leave with us a hurting thought can be messengers,  who call us to plough deep into our soul to find the ground of true consciousness to help us to encompass wholeness in thought, attitude and responses. 

A healed person brings healing to others! A wounded person feels the pain and needs of others. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)