Growing flowers … or weeds

From the moment I set my bare feet on the cold tile floor yesterday, I wanted to climb back under the covers.  An hour and a half of writing went nowhere and I had a good cry before I’d even made it into the shower.  I tried on at least four different outfits including jewelry, scarves and jackets, and I still didn’t dress warmly enough.  I was 20 minutes late for work and, once there, I noticed I forgot to wear earrings.  My IBS was acting up, I didn’t like my hair and my pants were too tight.  When I finally made it home for lunch, I remained tense and irritable.  But then I read a response from a fellow Yogi (instructor) on Facebook to a post I’d written about being crabby: “…it’s all in your head…”  Obviously, she was right.  So for the rest of the day I purposed to plant a garden where I’d want to linger.

Is your garden primarily filled with flowers or weeds?

[Image credit: sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net]

Cultivating the connection

[Image credit: Idea go]

A good friend is a connection to life — a tie to the past, a road to the future,
the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~ Lois Wyse

Just like a garden doesn’t grow without tender-loving care, a relationship wilts without proper attention such as kind deeds and the time necessary to nurture the connection.  And without the appropriate care, weeds like misunderstandings, thoughtless words, etc. can unravel the ties which bind us together.  Of course, there are those who are like thorns among the wild flowers and may not be worth the extra effort.  However, there are the rare few who are extensions of ourselves — the friend who finishes our sentences, reads us like a book, challenges us to be better human beings, loves us unconditionally and, in a sense, completes us (at the risk of sounding sappy).  These are the ones who undoubtedly keep me grounded, because whenever I feel a divide between us, I am a little bit lost, unbalanced, off-kilter.  But when we expose our hearts (it doesn’t matter who goes first), the friendship is enriched and bears much fruit.  Life is still insane.  But when the connection is thriving, all is right in my world.

Do you have a friendship that requires a little extra TLC today?