This morning while going over a botany lesson with my daughter I was struck by the bit about every flower needing its roots to be deep in the earth. The nutrients are derived from the dark, damp, minerals in the soil. The lesson went on to say that in order for a flower to bloom, the roots must be held by Mother Earth, called upwards by Father Sun and fed by water and air. All of those elements must be present in order for the flower to bloom.
So, it struck me that in our current culture we seem rather obsessed with the blooming flower! We seem to focus all of our attention of the beautiful blossom, forgetting that our roots must be buried deep in the darkness in order for that blossom to manifest. I've noticed of late, that particularly with the event of The Secret, more an more people seem afraid to embrace this 'dark side' aspect of ourselves. We seem to forget that going deep into ourselves and uncovering our demons/fears/doubts can actually become compost for that flower. Nowadays we can go to our local Home Depot and just buy a big sack of Miracle Grow 'for longer lasting blooms!' But what is now becoming painfully apparent, is that by artificially boosting the blooms, we are paying the price on a global level. Pouring a bunch of chemicals onto our soil does not feed or nurture our soil. So, yes we get brighter, longer lasting blooms and depleted soil for the next generation.
Wow! Think about this as mamas. If we don't take the time to 'compost' and break down those bits that we don't use or see as waste product- the peels, dead blossoms, and a good compost has um... crap in it! 
Bunny poop and chicken poop are excellent ingredients for compost. In our own lives, however, we seem to not want to deal with any crap anymore. Each time crap surfaces, everyone is rushing to 'get positive' or you'll attract more negative. Well, that is like saying we should leave the poop out of the compost when that is the most nutrient rich aspect of it! Just like our lives. When we are having 'crap' surface it gives us opportunity to go deep, dig deeper, find more compassion and love for ourselves and others and develop deep, healthy roots. A mother who can say to her child in an honest way, "I just feel like crap today so I'm going to be kind to myself and take some time for myself to see what's going on so I can get feeling better asap." is far more valuable to a child than one who says, "I'm feeling great!" with her words but is a mess internally and just can't wait until afternoon to get to that glass of wine while she's cooking dinner. That is absolutely feeding the blossom while depleting the soil. The point of the crap is to use it in a constructive manner. When we gather bunny or chicken poop for our compost we don't hang on to it and roll around in it. We add it to the compost! We use it. But yes, of course it stinks while we're collecting it. And there are usually little annoying flies involved and we may occasionally step in a pile of it or even slip and fall into it. But we wouldn't dream of staying there! We simply get up, wash off and put it into the compost anyway.
This constant 'feel good' obsession is like digging a hole next to a flower and shining light on the roots because everything should always be sunny! The plant will die and we will never see a blossom if we did that. So, are some of us trying to do that to ourselves? Are we shining a light on our roots in an attempt to be 'all light all the time?' It is the marriage of light and darkness, ying and yang, hot and cold- many plants will not bear fruit unless the winter is cold and long enough- that brings forth the blossom and then the fruit. Our society's current obsession with plastic surgery is very flower oriented. Look how beautiful I am! When the reality is that most of these women are feeling very depleted inside. Their roots are not fed. The soil has no minerals left in it so they try to fix the flower into an every-blooming blossom.
The botany lesson also mentioned that the earth is most active in winter. That also is opposite of what most of us see. It said the summer was when the earth was warm and lazy- all it has to do is bring water from the soil to the plant, but in winter it must hold the seed and imbue it with creation. Wow! When we are still and in our darker places, we may be 'busier' than ever in nurturing our creations. We've become such an action oriented society that unless we're out taking action we are thought to be lazy and not doing anything. This could actually be the opposite of the truth. We're just busy showing off our flowers. But in the stillness we may be imbuing our seeds with life force turning something from a dry little speck into the potential that will someday become a mighty oak, or a rose with an incredible scent or even a cactus full of thorns that can go months without a drop of water and only blooms for a single day every 7 years. We're all so different, yet society seems to judge everyone solely on the blooming power. hm... interesting, isn't it?
