Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Hibiscus, Road Blocks and 31 Days to being a Real Writer


Day 16

I moved my plants indoors last week.  Now the hibiscus is dropping its leaves.
The first year I had the tree, the dropping alarmed me. Hibiscus is temperamental anyway, and I thought  it surely must be dying. Now I know better - so the leaf shedding is simply annoying as I attempt to get them off the floor before the cat eats them or the dog crumbles them trying to decide if they are a new toy.  

The leaves will continue to drop until the tree is completely bare. Think Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. It will stay that way for a month or so, then slowly...slowly...the leaves start to come back.

I also separated and transplanted some African Violets. A bit concerned about those because they were my Grandma's. She died in 1984, so these plants are at least 30 years old.

So when I started writing this piece, the focus was a bit melancholy. Boo hoo that's me, feel like I am dropping all my leaves and being stuck in new places waaa waaa.
I generally form ideas in my head, roll them around awhile, then start to write. But somewhere between walking past the plants on my way out to do errands and returning to my computer two hours later, the focus changed.

Maybe, just maybe, leaf dropping is what I need. New soil inspiring new root growth is what I need.

I feel like the Grinch when he discovered Christmas doesn't come from a store!  

There are dreams running through my head constantly. Big dreams. Visions I have for my life. Changes I am determined to make.
How about you? Have you thought about your dreams lately?

There has always been something that I can put in my own way. Long ago I acquired a skill for putting junk in the way to block my path. Then I can point to the block and say, "See, that's why I do or do not _____."  Blame the junk in the way. Easier than correcting the problem.

You probably don't do that, do you? Didn't think so.

It feels like the storm I have been navigating for three years has killed every leaf I have. Maybe it has. Maybe my branches are soon to be bare. Maybe I have been uprooted and dropped in new soil.
Maybe SO WHAT??

Maybe I need to stop  worrying about the leaves that are dropping and think about the new leaves.  Stop worrying about moving out of the old pot and grow some new roots
A new level of fitness.
New business ventures.
New eating habits.
New levels of spiritual maturity.
New ways to help others.
Lots of new roots seeking different nourishment.
Lots of new leaves which I will never see as long as I am focused on keeping the old ones.
I am not like a tree. I can choose to hang on to the dead leaves.   
So can you.

So what will we do? Hang on to the leaves? Mourn their falling?
What if we gather and dispose of them? Not worry about whywhywhy they are falling or how we can stop it or what happens next?

Let's do that. Are you in? Will you join me?

We will talk again tomorrow...after more leaves fall
BP :)

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