Wednesday Wisdom – Choose Compassion

My husband has taken to growing roses in recent times and we are currently enjoying their constant colourful blooms. 

These beautiful, ornate flowers bring tremendous joy and I often find one having been lovingly put on my desk while I was out, or brought to me with a smile while I tap away on my keyboard.  They never fail in their ability to stir up a surge of love in my heart.

As a fun experiment one afternoon we decided to put a few particularly light coloured roses into a glass of water along with a few drops of food dye – just to see what happened. 

To our amazement, the roses each chose to suck up the colour at a different rate!

Some turned blue-green in a matter of hours, while the others took a little more time to decide whether they were willing to change from their natural shade or not. 

Over the next day or so all of the roses became a different hue, with some of their outer petals quickly starting to droop and shrivel the longer their umbilical cord fed from the artificial solution.

It struck me that the behaviour of these blossoms provided the most apt illustration of how vulnerable one is to becoming permanently altered in health, mind, body and soul if we allow sustained immersion in unsupportive or destructive relationships, poor communication, fake news, gossip or any other types of negativity.

Whilst we might be able to retain boundaries for a while and keep the bad influences at bay temporarily, the only real way to avoid becoming permanently tainted is to remove oneself from the source of the damage, or at least monitor the exposure thereto and call time out when necessary.

It is simply not possible to retain one’s sense of uniqueness, positive energy, centredness and calm in the continued presence of unrelenting negativism, adversity, distrust, trauma or hostility.  All of which circulates around every one of us in different guises, every day.

In viewing the picture painted by the roses a little differently one can get a sense of how awesome the world would be if the pool from which we each choose to take our daily drink is a lake filled with compassion – further enhanced by understanding, support, care and positivity. 

Imagine! 

If ever there was a time in the world to be more mindful of the choice of our personal source(s) of nutrition, it is now.

ELISE