- Flowering Enkianthus ‘ Red Velvet’ frames the garden view
- Dwarf Iris in combination with Phlox subulata with Highbush Blueberry foliage behind
Martha Beck reminds us that a relaxed human and a healthy human are one. (“The Easier Way to Diet” , The Oprah Magazine, June 2009). Further a healthy human stays trim effortlessly because the beastie brain doesn’t need to go into defensive mode. Reading her article this morning my thoughts wander to the relaxation “prayer” I learned in my meditation group that I ask myself to voice whenever I begin to feel the beastie’s tension rise. “May I be at ease with things are they are”. (BTW–being at ease doesn’t free one from responsible action). Take a deep breath. My garden helps me with this process. The bit of land I steward. It really doesn’t belong to me. Its’ magic orchestrated but totally dependent on weather patterns and climatic variations. This year I celebrate the pink lilac so passionately full and fragrant–a gift to my senses each time I pass within its charms.
So much has happened in the garden since I last wrote. Too much to catalog. I find myself delighted (and relaxed!) with the peonies so voluptuously in bud. It’s more than a sensual promise somehow–perhaps a gift of possibility. The southern side of the garden blesses me with a window view full of pink clematis, a enkianthus boasting its generative powers with enthusiastic coverage of “red” bells (I’m challenged to describe that particular red), while nearby a mass of deep purple dwarf iris combining with pink ground phlox metaphorically knock me out! The viburnum ‘Shasta’ flowers with such abundance–last year I was worried because nary a bloom! Embracing such beauty finds me breathing deeply with much appreciation and becoming that relaxed human. Martha Beck is spot on with her advice, and I think that inhaling beauty with all our senses helps the constantly renewing process of becoming a relaxed human.
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