One day you will look back and see that all along you were blooming
— Morgan Harper Nichols, All Along You Were Blooming
This quote has helped me trust that a flower’s journey from seed to blooming is also true for me (and other people, too).
It’s easy to admire a flower and forget that it was once a small seed that gradually bloomed over time with bumps along the way.
I often compare myself to others and can see someone’s external success in any form (career, relationship, financial, emotional maturity, etc.) as evidence I am behind.
What I’ve come to learn is that everyone starts as a seed and journeys through dirt, mud, and rainy conditions in order to bloom into being a unique flower (person). Each flower in the garden is beautiful in its own special way, and there is no need for comparing their beauty.
MHN’s beautiful poem reminds me to stay in my lane and trust in my own growth process as separate from other peoples’.
Sarah Yudkin
Recovering from hustle culture and the urge to rush through life, one day at a time…
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I read The PIague when I was a junior at Notre Dame, in 1978. I’d been given an assignment to write a paper about the book but had confused deadlines, and I realized at about 6 p.m. one evening that the paper was due at 9 a.m. the next morning – and I hadn’t read a page, had no idea what it was about.
Monks and holy guides of many different faiths agree that each person has their own “grace.” As Thomas Merton writes, “And each way is a grace, a special way is a special grace.”
On the mantel above my fireplace sits a representation of Quan Yin. I keep her there where I can always see her, because she embodies my intention and my spiritual practice as a human being and as a writer.
I lived in my suburban townhouse for nine years before I set foot inside a neighbor’s house. I knew their names and enough for a few minutes of small talk, but after that it felt safer to hurry back inside…
