Taking Time To Smell The Roses

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My previous post The Presence Of Passion featured a single rose.

Here are a few more.

My then six year old daughter, in pinkish garb,takes in the fragrance of a neatly matching rose flower.

It was possibly the first time she had done so.

Freshness.

Discovery.

Mindfulness.

The saying “take time to smell the roses” is almost a cliche of mindfulness rhetoric.

But how often do we not do that exact thing? We know what they look and smell like. But we take them for granted, ignore them and so deprive ourselves of  sensory moments of joyful rediscovery.

There are thousands of such moments that pass us by because we are think we are too  busy ,or have simply become blase.

We have to make time for joy and newness in our lives,to discover and replenish.

For time is of the essence, just as rose petals are crushed to form the essence of perfume.

Which brings a telling song lyric to mind:

” If you don’t stop to smell the roses now

  They might end up on you “

( Husker Du , ‘These Important Years ‘)

 

 

 

 

Sea Cave Treasure Seeker

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“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”

     –  Joseph Campbell

Mighty sea cave on New Zealand’s west coast at Muriwai Beach.

I would be more than a little afraid to explore beyond the cave’s entrance – the power of the sea ,the damp rock walls and general darkness puts me off. Plus, a tiny fear of drowning…

The  uncovering of the mystery of the cave’s depths and discovery of its ‘treasure’ will fall to someone else braver than me…..

Fear holds us back from discovery so often. Even when we know that at the times we have been most brave, we have learned and gained much.

As an aside, sea caves are products of erosive wave action –  it is amazing that the destruction of the softish cliff rock over time actually creates something ‘other’ and new!