Updated January 6, 2024 by Renata Fulawka

Nature has an incredible way to make us aware...

Nature’s lesson on NURTURING.

Nature has an incredible way to make us aware of the world around us and within us in the most simple, gentle and yet impactful way.

At the beginning of summer I decided to get a nice big and colourful plant for my balcony. Since this was my first summer at my new home I was not sure what type of plant would be suitable based on the available sunlight.

The plant I chose was big, colourful and it stayed that way for over a month. However soon after that, I noticed the leaves started to change colour and the stems were turning brown, which meant they were dying. I gave it water, and was hoping for a miracle that would bring my plant back to life. I kept on looking at it, and hoping and looking and hoping with no change to the plant in sight. After 3 weeks or so, I started to feel really bad when starring at my NOW appearing dead plant.

I felt horrible as this once beautiful plant was now dead and internally I knew that I had a LOT to do with that. Yes, I contributed to the death of my plant. I felt terrible and of course guilty.

So, I set on this more and I looked and hopped for magic to happen. To my surprise, on this one beautiful sunny day a miracle did happen. During one of my plant starring sessions, I noticed that one of the branches was still green, which meant it showed a sign of life. Seeing that, I jumped off my ‘contemplation chair’ and went to examine the true condition of my plant.

To my untrained gardener’s eye I was pleasantly surprise to see that one branch was alive. Ignited with hope I started to untangle and prune the dead stems. Once I pruned all the dead stems and only left the green ones suddenly the plant got its life back.

From that day forward I’ve been not only watering my plant, but also pruning it and having full fledge encouragement -‘ You Can do it’- conversations with my revived plant. It’s purpose was to rebuild my muscle for caring and not to feel like a crazy lady for talking to my plant. Two weeks went by and all of a sudden I noticed new buds and flowers started to bloom. I was ecstatic!! My balcony started to look better, more colourful and secondly my plant was alive and blooming again. AKA- I didn’t kill it completely.

This simple message in reading yet powerful in metaphors may at times seem challenging in application to our lives and relationships, however there are key lessons from the plant, such as:

1. Power of being nurturing! When you stop watering and paying attention to the plant- it dies and so do the relationships in our lives when neglected. The outcome of neglect makes relationships fade away and people leave, despite the initial beauty they once had.

2.Clean up! Once the dead branches were pruned, the vibrant and alive branches became clearly visible. The same happens in our relationships. Once we clean up, let go of things, people and relationships that no longer serve our higher good, we make space and time for the healthy relationships to enter. The minute the stale relationships are gone, the positive ones become vibrant and noticeable. Most of all, by eliminating unhealthy relationships, we make time for nurturing and cherishing healthy ones so that they can bloom and flourish with ease.

3. Pay attention! By paying attention to my plant I watered it regularly and in return it gave me more beautiful flowers to look at. A simple act of paying attention to the water levels of my plant gave me 3 folds back in return, namely:

The balcony looked beautiful and inviting
The plant continued to blossom
Personal satisfaction from seeing the fruit of my labour flourish

To no surprise, the same happens in our relationships. By paying a little bit more attention to the conditions in our relationships we are able to provide nourishment, love and care. In return, we get back nourishment, love and care! Simply, we make each other look and feel good. Impressive, isn’t it!

So friends, Mother Nature once again in its simple and gentle way made me realize how fragile our relationships are when we neglect them. Furthermore, how much joy and happiness healthy relationships bring us when reciprocated.

Pay attention, Nurture connections and Love the moment!

Balance & Joy

-R

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2238 Dundas St West, #215, Toronto ON, M6R 3A9

Updated January 6, 2024 by Renata Fulawka

Be the bird of your life's mission!

Mother nature happens to be an incredible teacher to all earthly creations. Early Sunday morning as I started my day with a cup of coffee, I got greeted by unusual visitors who decided to try to make home on my tiny balcony, namely the pigeons.

Yes, it is the season and spring is in the air, but in all these years they have not stopped at my balcony in the attempt to nest and to start their family. I was not particularly happy about this as having a family of pigeons on a condo balcony is not exactly the view that I, nor my neighbours, would want to see and encourage. I was visibly annoyed and irritated, as were my neighbours.

Fast forward a week, where I’ve been dealing with the pigeons with little success. The pigeon couple happened to be very determined and persistent in ignoring my scare tactics. They stayed focused on accomplishing their mission namely, to build a nest to lay eggs!

Due to schedule constraints, other priorities as well as having a secret hope that I was able to successfully scare them off and deter them from completing their mission, I postponed tackling this task till the weekend. However, during the week I have continuously re-adjusted the tarp covering the balcony furniture to make sure the unwanted balcony guests would not have access to any spaces under the tarp. As luck has it, that week weather was on their side as it was windy and rainy, which meant that the tarp would shift and create openings to get through.

Things I did to deter the pigeon:

-Scare them off, shush them out, clap them out and whistle them off.
-Readjusted things to cover all possible openings to get through.
-Put obstacles in place (i.e.: stones and plant stand) to increase the level of challenge and discourage them.
-I hoped it would go away.

In one week, they managed to bypass all my attempts to derail them in building a nest, started to collect lots of nest branches and they nearly succeeded. Yes, they almost did!

Things the pigeons did:

-They worked together. It was incredible to watch them work together in securing the spot. They flew by, tested the area if they could land here and stay. Obviously, their combined effort paid off and they got in at the perfect time as I was destructed enough and hopeful enough that they would change their mind and fly away.
They worked hard. It took time and effort to find the optimal location, at least for them, and bring in the little branches to build a nest.
-They stayed focused. Multiple destructions and noise were put in their way to stop them, to deter their focus and ultimately to discourage them from building a nest. They stayed focused, kept ignoring, or overlooking all destructions. They were relentless.
-They never give up. No matter how many obstacles and changes were put in their way, they kept on working together, persevering in finding an opening to get back to their nest. They were ABSOLUTELY relentless!

As much as I was annoyed, frustrated and scared of having to deal with the pigeons and their mess, they reminded me of important life lessons. Even when we experience challenges, changes to circumstance, feel frustrated, annoyed, or scared with focus and perseverance we can reach our goals.

Birds don’t give up and mostly of all do not allow any limiting thoughts and believes to stop them from reaching their goal, which we humans may struggle with it at times. They stay focused, persistent, overcame obstacles and looked for a new opening, new opportunity to complete their mission- to reach their goal.

Comments

© COPYRIGHT GET TO KNOW YOURSELF. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

[email protected]

647-326-8981

2238 Dundas St West, #215, Toronto ON, M6R 3A9