Dear Reader:

The quote in the title comes from George Herbert (1633)…an amazingly insightful poet, who metaphorically saw his aging life through a beautiful bud on an old flower that looked like it was dead… more than once..but now had returned…not just beautiful…but having arrived in its”Golden Age.” (“The Flower” – George Herbert)

*This is what happened to this gorgeous white camellia…it was left in a pot hidden halfway under the deck and forgotten…but after years of neglect it got just enough sun to emerge this past year as the most beautiful camellia of all. Queen for the Season! Sometimes it just takes some of us a little longer to bloom…and that’s okay too. Today it has taken its rightful place in the back yard with the rest of the camellia family!

Isn’t that our dream…that we continue to grow and love deeper and delight in the new perspectives on life that come with age…it radiates us far more than any cosmetic surgery!

“Tesha” Randall, in her book The To-Be List found herself in a quandary one day when she suddenly had an epiphany about some short-comings that would lessen her total fulfillment in life.

Author Latesha Randall lived for checking off items on her to-do lists until one day she had an epiphany: even though her days were filled with things to do, she was missing out on life. So she stopped writing down everything she needed to accomplish and started a new list of ideals and behaviors to adopt things like… Be present, Be engaged, Be authentic, and many other practices that focus on being rather than doing.

Like George Herbert, she too has realized that with age and maturity there comes a moment when letting others run your life is no longer acceptable and instead it is time to get self “selectable.”

One of her chapters on being rather than doing is called “Be Selective.”

She remembers, in the past, saying “yes” to everything and running around in circles trying to please everyone….this included staying late at work to make sure her boss and clients were happy…it was a “recipe for exhaustion.”

So she became more selective...with friends, events, and clients…recognizing the people in her life who drain her energy and who aren’t in line with her values in life.

She concludes by observing that being selective has brought her “more calm, more enjoyment, and a deeper connection“to whom she really is and what she really wants to do.

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So until tomorrow….We only get one chance at this thing called life…so let’s remember to surround ourselves with people who share many of the same values on life we do…instead of allowing ourselves to be  “tiptoeing” around consistently cantankerous individuals who bring us down….not up… to appreciate and feel the fulfillment of the individual, unique life we all deserve.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Is there anything more gorgeous than early spring snap dragons…they are such happy flowers…especially when they all hang out together!