The Strength Within All of Us

 “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched, but are felt by the heart.” Helen Keller

Every plant begins when a flower bursts into the world with vibrant colors and sweet scents. Next, this beautiful blossom produces its fruit. The cycle of life has much potential and will nurture the entire world when treated with love. At first, a seed is planted; then it struggles to push itself through the soil into a world of possibilities. As the plant grows, it faces many challenges–aphids, caterpillars, elements, and other earthly encounters. As the stem grows stronger, leaves begin to reach out towards the sun. Then a flower awakens. The plant succeeds by creating these blossoms. The flower slowly embraces the sunlight, feeling the dew drops on its buds. Each day the petals open, showing beauty, sweet scent, and nectar, which will nurture many life forms. As the season moves forward, the flower changes as the petals slowly fall towards the earth. Then, with wonders beyond compare the blossom starts producing a wonderful sweet fruit bursting with juice. It has become a delightful sweet strawberry! This circle will never end as long the earth flourishes.

 We all have flowers inside us–different yet just as beautiful as a strawberry plants. You may be a rose, cherry blossom, dandelion, or another type of flower just as lovely. Each person has different struggles or challenges we face each day in our life span just like the plants. Sometimes we fall into shade, which could overwhelm us. However, as we grow we’ll see how our flower has adapted, because flowers always turn towards the sunlight. When we find ourselves living in the shadows (Negatively) with a cold wind within our soul, we can adjust and strengthen by moving towards love, which will take us any place we choose. If we decide to stop producing, letting the elements get in our way, not embracing life, we can become dis-eased. Will you let negative people or situations take the strength away from you? This is everyone’s choice–finding out how to nurture our souls and others.  When plants find difficulties they’ll always find ways to flourish and produce, becoming fruits or vegetables. Mother Nature (the Divine) makes sure even when the soil seems too harsh for plants they’ll adapt and grow. We are also protected by divine forces, with the warm arms of our Earth nurturing us to flourish. We can let fears get in our way, not seeing the beauty inside our souls. Let’s learn from plants, the oldest life forms on the earth, to embrace our blessings, which Mother Earth provides for all living beings.

Above is a quote from Helen Keller. These words are important for us to consider: the heart is the rhythm of life. Helen Keller had no sight, hearing or speech, yet she surpassed everyone’s expectations, becoming an inspiration for us all. She faced fears and embraced them, pushing herself beyond what others believed she could attain. She saw the world through heart–feeling the rhythms and beauty that life has to offer as a whisper, music or poetry, which vibrates in its splendor. The heart never stops; it beats 24/7, always  keeping our body in balance. Even when our hearts slowly begin to fade, and we embrace a different phase of our essence, we find our souls going toward a new existence into a light without judgment. Warmth (Agape) and unconditional love embrace us as a new cycle begins. We all have the choice to become the muse within us–listening to our hearts and reaching out to others on the Earth. We don’t have to be a Helen Keller to be an inspiration to ourselves, friends and communities. We can face our fears and choose to push past them even though they may seem overwhelming at times. When we take this path, it may be hard but it will lead us to do anything we choose in our lives. Why let our fears stop us? If we take this lesser path–becoming victims of our cultures, forgetting to listen to our hearts–then we stop embracing our strength. We stop flourishing by giving our power away.

I want to share a story with everyone.  There was a cave where a small group of people lived. All they knew was the fire which gave them warmth with a dim light. Their nourishment was brought to them by others called the authorities. No one ever questioned this in the cave, or how they lived for hundreds of years. The darkness embraced them, the light from the fire cast shadows on the rocks, and these cave people named the images that they identified as a divine presence. This gave them a belief system, for they felt the gods watched over them, which comforted all who lived in this village. Then one day a woman called Enna found a path. She decided to walk upon the trail which led her to places only in dreams. Enna walked away from the others and the dim light into a new, unknown bright journey. At first it was full of fear, yet her heart was bursting with excitement. Finally, she found the opening of the cave for the first time, and the sun touched her face. This source of light was so overwhelming it blinded her at first. She was afraid that death was around the corner. Then the night came, and coolness set in, allowing her to see the wonderful stars and moonlight. She felt the joy of life overflowing inside. She never had seen past the rocks or shadows, but now as she walked, the light from the night sky showed another path. She traveled far–finding a vast new world, which had new colorful plants and animals. Enna met other people who gave her the names of these delightful spectaculars as well as food. She found a village on this pathway where there were so many people she could never have imagined. The village people saw her being very different and felt threatened. The authorities were called, and even though she tried to fight back in order to remain in this unique world, they took her back into the darkness and the cave walls with only one source of light and warmth. At first, Enna was excited, wanting to share everything she learned with her people. She felt that they would surely embrace the wonders and experiences of this fantastic journey. The stories she told gave new names for the shadows on the rocks in the cave. The elders became furious with all these bizarre stories. This challenged their beliefs and what they had always acknowledged as gods. A meeting was called, and a wise man asked Enna to attend. The elders all demanded her to stop telling these stories or they would kill her. They felt all of these stories were just her imagination; Wandering away from everyone, sadness her heart and soul.  Enna finally concluded that life is better than death; her stories stopped. These people soon forgot all her tales. She also embraced the darkness with others, forgetting the journey and her memories. This story is not mine, yet it is my own version. It came from a man who lived long ago in Greece, Plato. The story is “The cave allegory.”

In conclusion, we are all just like the plants: all different kinds of colors and fragrant aromas. Even the plants have to push their limits to find food soil, whether it’s hard or soft. Through the harshness of life, the plants find ways to flourish by producing many seeds with possibilities to move beyond the elements. We can learn from their nature. We are all kinds of different fruits or vegetables, the plants of life. We can see cycles of our lives with many probable outcomes. We can embrace our beauty and find our way through all our adversities in life, becoming an inspiration to all we know like Helen Keller. We can become the woman in the cave whose culture decided where she belonged.  We all have our stories and challenges; they may not be at the extreme ends of the spectrum like Helen Keller, yet they are ours.It can be harsh to push ourselves out of the box of our belief systems, yet I promise you it will be the best chosen path to follow. We all have hearts beating in their own rhythm and music. Choosing to be a victim may feel safe, yet you’ll feel better if you take risks or experiments in life. Enjoy each day, and you’ll find the beauty of the world, seeing everything as wonder, like a newborn child or a person who walks out of a cave into the light.

Food for thought.