Sunflower Summer

On the surface things can seem so calm. Like the outdoors when the morning sun rises and the world seems to move just a little bit slower. A sense of serene takes over. It allows you to soak up the energy and connect to a universal place. Like a sunflower using photosynthesis to obtain the nutrients it needs to flourish.

Nature has a way to disconnect you from the hustle and bustle of the every day life we have become acclimated too. Back to the basics. Simple and less complex. Nothing hidden beneath the surface. It paints you a story and it is on you to look and interpret the meaning.

Human instant says survival of the fittest. Control and power. Alpha of the pack. Where and when did all this come into play? If only one is seen as the strongest, the most intelligent, the most beautiful... then we are idealizing and striving to become an unrealistic society.

Like the Sunflower that will grow as tall with the right care and conditions. Environment and support will be the strength to help build the foundations to it ability to grow. Light with give it the beauty and the marvelous ray of colors. Colors so deep and bright from the Reds, Oranges, and Yellows that no two are just alike in comparison. Like people they are all unique.

We as people, are quick to react. This fast pace world of technology we are falling behind just trying to keep up. Everything is interpreted in a numerous amount of ways, that reactions are quick to get heated, taken in the wrong terms, or used against someone. What does all this have in common..? It's all another form to bring that person down. The survival instant to decrease their control and prove who is the alpha of the two.

Maybe if we can a step back, brought things down to simpler terms we would see that in the end. Negativity has gotten no one anywhere. So instead of bringing others down and blithering on about their personal lives and spreading scurrilous gossip. Lift them up. Stop of the hate towards others, stop the destruction of the environment, the memories of a simpler time. Our future generations are taking notice and if the decline in respect for one another doesn't stop and reverse direction. It leaves little light for their confidence in themselves, their own ability to flourish and improve in a positive way. Give them a little room for them to build those trusting and everlasting friendships and bonds with others. For a world just a little more kind. A world in which I am sure most can still look back and remember fondly.

Growth comes with support. Judgments, criticism, manipulations, and abuse. That is not support. That is leaving someone drowning in the ocean. If you do not agree with someone you have the right not too. But that does not give you the right to belittle their own worth and their beliefs. It gives you the right to state you disagree and walk away.

Back to the basics. Do on to others as one would have done on thy self. Love yourself, Respect your elders, Be kind to all living things, Help one another, Strive each day to be better than the person you were the day before.

So before you decide to crack a joke at someone, pick a flower outside, laugh at another....just ask yourself and take a moment to think, "Is this going to hurt someone else, Is this an act of kindness, or is this for personal gain? Am I responding in a way that may hurt someone else or something else?" Simple Questions- take it even "Is this action kind?"

Allow yourself the confidence to be unique. Be your own sunflower that flourishes and helps others along the way. Be beautifully kind. The lasting beauty that people want to photograph and remember.