January 26

Embracing natural rhythms is a way to remind yourself that beautiful things can bloom in different ways. Just as one flower blooms differently from another in the same garden, your own growth follows a similar pattern. Likewise, the same type of tree grows differently in various locations, and similarly, you will grow differently in different places. The way you grow in this season might be different from how you grew ten years ago.

So whenever you start to feel overwhelmed by everything you have yet to learn or all the things you have not yet figured out, may you know that this does not mean that your potential for beautiful growth is any less. Instead, each stage of growth, whether fast or slow, obvious or subtle, is a part of a larger story, much like a flower or a tree is one part of a larger landscape in the natural world.

At times, this idea may seem too simple or even redundant, because the analogy of nature as a metaphor for a human’s growth has become so commonplace that its deeper significance is often overlooked. However, there is nothing to be rushed about growing in the capacity to adapt and flourish. No matter the flower’s stem or the tree’s limb, every bend signifies a response to the environment before unfurling its leaves towards new opportunities. And perhaps, the moments when we witness the slow and distinct stretching of various flowers' blooms and the stretching growth of different trees, offer us an opportunity to stretch towards embracing our own potential, one season at a time.