In Early May our town was giving out free packets of sunflower seeds. They encouraged us to plant them as a way of uplifting our town during the Covid pandemic and seeing them would make us smile and brighten our day. I happily picked up my packet of 12 seeds and followed the planting directions carefully.
After a few weeks of caring for the spouts the day came to plant them outdoors. It felt like I was sending my children off to the first day of kindergarten. I placed them all carefully into their spots and then constructed a make-shift mini fence around each one. Can you tell what kind of parent I would have been? I watched them like a hawk everyday. Some faired better than others and 4 in particular shot up and had very strong thick stems and had the promise of turning into big flowers.
It took quite some time for them to grow to the point that they were ready to flower. Then comes hurricane Isaias. The wind was blowing so strong I could see them getting pummeled and I was very worried. I quickly threw on my shoes and raincoat and ran outside in an attempt to give them support with some tall bamboo rods. The wind was dangerously strong making it unsafe for me and I had no choice but to leave them on their own for the duration of the storm.
Three days later I looked out the window again and the sunflower that was severely hurt and lying on the ground was still alive. To my joy and amazement its bud was still attempting to follow the sun. I ran outside to see if I could save it. The stem had a bad 8 inch split but I was able to support it with bamboo rods and a bandage. She stood again injured but proud!
I watched as the other sunflower next to her bloomed into a large bud
Not
I learned a lot from watching my sunflower. It wasn’t thinking about its struggle it was just engaged in a natural process called life. Life threw it a curve ball and it had no resistance and there was no need to process feelings or overcome past conditioning. It was tremendously reassuring for me to watch its progress and see that adversity and suffering is just a part of the natural unfolding of life for all living things.