Flourish, dammit!

I know a number of us are going to be swept up in various holiday activities and blogs will not be first and foremost on our minds. I'd like to take a brief moment to interrupt the bake-off season with a wish for everyone.

I was having a conversation with one of my sisters the other day. Both of my sisters are two of my mother tigers, people I can go to when I'm uncertain, unsteady, adrift. I was explaining my angst de jour and we were discussing the best paths to our various desires when she reminded me about a path I often neglect, a path I so often forget to take. She abruptly ended a paragraph with, "Flourish, dammit!" And she was right.

It is so easy to get caught up in the should I/shouldn't I's, so easy to worry if this is the right choice or if that is the right choice. It is so easy to get tangled in the weeds of thought when the answer should be very easy. Just flourish. Allow yourself to flourish. If you treat yourself kindly and allow yourself to grow, you will be a benefit to others.

I think in this day and age, succeeding is thought of as a zero sum game. CEO's must make obscene amounts of money while the actual workers make less than ever. Neighbors must struggle against each other to have the best, the latest, the shiniest. I must do better, if someone else has more, then I am not succeeding. Succeeding at all costs is not necessarily flourishing. The dictionary defines flourishing as the following:

1. To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive
2. To do or fare well; prosper
3.To be in a period of highest productivity, excellence, or influence

I still believe that in rising to our best, we are able to bring out the best in others, we allow the best in others. It is when we flourish that we are content and are able to help others. There is no scarcity mentality. We are flourishing, we are being what we are supposed to be. We have all we truly need and can pass it on.

One can flourish in many ways. We can flourish by allowing ourselves to get enough sleep. We can flourish by honoring those random gifts that were bestowed on our person long before we were born. We can flourish merely by choosing to be nice. If we flourish, we honor all that is good in us and don't react with fear or hate.

I hope that this next year is a wonderful year for everyone. May you be at your best and may you bring out the best in those around you.

May you all flourish.

Comments

[The Uncanny Canadian]

Beautiful post, Jennifer. I see that I am flourish in my own special way, by which I mean growth, by which I mean of my waist line. But my size and gravitational pull is indeed flourishing and that's what matters, right?

[Jennifer]

Thanks UC.

And you can't judge a bake-off with this many entries and not flourish in the way you mention. :)

[almostinfamous]

can we have a flourish-off next?

[Brando]

UC, it's not how many satellites you attract that matters. It's how many satellites you have that are sending space probes to.

[Claire]

Love this.

[fish]

Ending the year with a flourish.