When I was studying art history at Brown University, I fell in love with the work of Claude Monet.
Whenever I was feeling a bit rough, I would go down to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum and stand in front of Monet’s water lilly paintings for long periods of time.
The colors, light and feeling of Monet’s work seemed to fix whatever would be wrong, even if only for short periods of time.
I would leave the museum feeling uplifted, quieter. No need to talk to anyone. My problems would feel resolved.
I remember talking about Monet to a friend, now deceased, who was a Ph.D. art historian.
“He was just a gardener,” she said, dismissively.
I would never say that about anyone. To me, being a gardener is a great honor. I happen to adore my gardener, Gabe Horrisberger, and he and I work closely four seasons of the year. We talk about our plans and decide which of us is going to tackle which projects.
I planted these cherry blossom double begonias and euphorbia around my blue jar fountain just last week.
One of the great benefits of being intuitive is to know when to show up at the right time. Last week, my guidance told me one morning that I had to go to ACE Hardware immediately. The lady there who helped me said the euphorbia would all be gone by the end of the day. There were only two baskets of cherry blossom double begonias, and she told me that would be it for the double begonias all season. I adore double begonias, so I showed up the exact day they arrived.
Had I gone the next day, I could have missed everything important.
To me, the effects of a great garden are quite profound.
My clients tell me they feel uplifted just walking up the steps to my studio.
We practice qi gong around the fountain, so everybody feels the chi not just of the flowing water but also of all my flowers.
If I am listening to a client tell me about their pain and suffering, all I have to do to be able to hold the space to listen is to look out my window and know and experience that the world is a safe and beautiful place.
In my healing practice, I have flower essences from all over the world. My favorites are Don Dennis’s orchid remedies from Scotland, which you can read all about at www.healingorchids.com. I also have all the Australian flower remedies, the Master’s essences, the White Light essences, all the Perelandra essences, remedies from the Himalayas, Holland and Canada. I have a huge drawer of the Bach flower remedies, but these come up less frequently.
One way to use flower essences is to take two to four drops under your tongue, close your eyes, feel the effects and meditate on the message the flower wants to give to you.
As much as I love studying the subtle energies of vibrational remedies, I love staring out my window.
