“What’s the flower you resonate with?” I asked on Instagram today.
Some of my women friends said they’re sunflowers, dandelions and daisies; women who feel grounding to me. Others are invigorating daffodils or sensible Gardenias, which my own Orchid child feels related to.
Who might Rebecca be? Or Christiane?
My innocent posting became another journey; I began associating flowers with my women friends. Wow, that’s what I see and love in them? Flowers became mirrors of the energy they are to me; I saw sweet, embracing and happy pink baby roses in my friend Barbie or elegant, confident beauty and depth in Helene’s Dahlia.
Ron, the one man who responded named the Tulip as the flower he resonates with, “because of my heritage.” Part of his family came from Holland and he was touched and impressed when seeing the Tulip fields on a visit.
Flowers talk; so I checked on the flowers of my heritage.
The Cornflower is the unofficial national German flower and was once regarded a weed. When people began to see her unique beauty she was elevated into the flower state and her wild sisters are now protected.
I relate to the weed state of “not being good enough”. When I finally began to own my truth and expressed it in my looks people began to see me.
Chamomile is a healer, especially for insomnia and stomach pains.
My stomach is my weak organ, where I hold my fears and anxieties, it sometimes cause insomnia.
The Spindle grows on bushes and transforms from green, yellow into light fuchsia, which takes her months and then produces poisonous decorative berries.
To step into my true colors took my six decades. I love to enrich people’s life with fun, creative outfits. Most of my life I protected myself; look at me but don’t touch.
It was the Edelweiss that blew my mind in her fairy tale way.
Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum) is a popular alpine flower related to the sunflower family, which grows in the mountains of Germany. In German, edelweiss means “white noble"; its white color is a symbol of purity. Edelweiss typically blooms during the summer months and prefers to grow on cold, rocky terrain that’s rich in limestone. Edelweiss is easily grown from seed and is often found in gardens throughout the country. Medicinally, edelweiss was used to help treat stomach pain and respiratory diseases.
I had frictions with Edelweiss; it was a song in the Sound of Music, sung by Julie Andrews. I disliked her goody two shoe attitude and the nationalist text “blessing my country” of the lyrics; I’m into blessing the whole world equally. I rejected white, a color I found as simplistic in its vibe of “clean, holy and good.” I always flirted with the drops of my blue blood from my noble revolutionary Huguenots fore-people. Even when I was broke I never felt not noble as a person.
We find the purity of our hearts and minds in challenges, in rocky terrain. I am on the conscious journey to be “real” and walk my talk since I began posting my “styling from the insight out” adventures on Instagram. And at the end of three years I have begun to love the color white and to live the childlike purity of my heart without my protective shield.
I wrote this poem five years ago.
Orchid Kids
I am an orchid living in a scruffy corner
Wrapped in darkness my colors are faded
My blooms died and dropped into the dirt
Too much rain suffocated me
Too much sun burnt my leafs
Life is not fair
I am ashamed of how I look
I am nothing
Nobody sees me
Nobody adores me anymore
A little girl picked me up last week
She put me in her window
She gave me clean water
And just enough light
There is a new leaf she smiled
You'll see soon
You'll blossom again
I think she loves me as I am
Blossoms have come and gone; I own my complicated self these days and often I even love her.
Enter the game; find your flowers here and your vibe reveals itself.