The Message Project : Bloom Where You’re Planted

Bloom where you’re planted.

I love this saying!

To me it means embracing where you are right now and really living it.

It’s all too easy to agonise over the past and dream about the future. But we can only feel feelings, make decisions and live life in the present moment. So we may as well squeeze everything out of it.

Live it. Immerse ourselves in it. Make it the best now it can possibly be.

Bloom where you’re planted.

I really do try to keep these four little words in my head as I go on my merry way.  Over the past few days winter has returned with an icy, windy, wet vengeance. Everything in me wants to curl up in a ball, to hibernate, to get my cranky pants on. Or to pack up the family, hitch up the caravan and drive north.

But where I am now is where I am planted. This is where I need to bloom.

So I’ve been firing up the wood stove and cooking up a storm. I’ve been wearing my funnest, stripey tights and colourful chunky knits. I’ve booked a haircut. I’ve been filling jars with spring blossoming camellias and daffodils.  And I’ve made plans for Photoshop lessons – something I’ve long wanted to do but put off until now.

I’ve also been spring cleaning.  I know it doesn’t feel like spring outside, but the calendar says it is, so I’ve been giving my house a big old wipe down. Everything blooms better in a lovely environment, right?

And of course I’ve been planting. Tiny little summer vegie and flower seeds in trays of potting mix. In the months to come they’ll grow, then bloom, and then delight and feed my family and me. Although the soil outside is still sitting at around zero degrees, hopefully in their warm home in the hothouse these seeds will hear my quiet words of encouragement, and they’ll grow strongly and bountifully.

They’ll bloom where they’re planted. And I’m doing my very best to make sure I do too. Right here, right now.

This post is part of Mount Franklin’s #themessageproject, celebrating the work of the McGrath Foundation.