Greetings and welcome to the Why Struggle Podcast.
I'm your host,
Barbara J.
Faison,
And my intention with this podcast is to offer ideas,
Insights,
And inspirations so you can live life better.
Greetings and welcome to 2025 Week 18,
Spontaneity.
If you're new to the podcast,
Welcome.
And if you listen regularly,
Thank you.
This is a podcast about spontaneity.
I have been a planner for most of my life,
Sure.
I do spontaneous things.
However,
There is usually a plan in my spontaneity.
I think,
Like most people,
I have my routines down pretty good.
Most Sundays,
I do my grocery shopping,
Come in and cook,
And begin to prepare for the week.
I enjoy routine,
Most of the time.
Then sometimes I like to mix it up and to do something a little different.
I mean,
After all,
Variety is the spice of life,
Right?
Or so they say.
When my husband,
T.
D.
,
Suggested we drive out to a nursery to look at flowers on Sunday,
I was game.
Insert growth moment for me.
Let's just say there have been times in the past when that would have been very problematic.
I had my day scheduled and something spontaneous would have thrown my schedule out of the window.
I love when I can notice and appreciate my growth.
Episode 16,
I talked about life maintenance and the importance of maintaining things that are important in our lives.
And in that moment,
The focus was on working on the flowers and updating the yard.
At least it was for my husband.
Off to the nursery we went.
The nursery was about an hour away,
So we took a scenic drive and it was a day date.
We pulled up to the street to the nursery and saw all the cars and police directing traffic.
It was very busy and bustling.
There were so many beautiful flowers,
Shrubs,
And trees to take in.
The line was long and it moved very quickly.
Both my parents were excellent gardeners.
I enjoy flowers and plants and I know the names of many of them from the years of going with my mother to pick out flowers.
I will occasionally dig in the dirt.
However,
I do believe my brother and niece picked up the planting gene.
They both enjoy planting flowers and my niece April even makes her own jams,
Jellies,
And sauces from her plants.
Walking through the nursery felt relaxing and chatting with the people as we were selecting our lantanas,
Roses,
Blueberry,
And blackberry bushes made me smile and remember my mother's joy at finding great prices for her plants.
See,
I told you I remembered some of the names of the flowers.
Every day and every moment we are creating new memories.
In episode 13,
I shared how to use go-to memories as a tool.
Check it out.
One of my favorite go-to memories was returning home after a trip to Boston to see the garden TD had planted.
As you drive up to our house,
At the end of the carport to the left side going toward the back of the house by the deck is where the garden is.
I remember vividly pulling up and seeing the roses,
Butterfly bushes,
And other flowers he had planted while I was gone for the weekend.
I had traveled for work and due to storms was not able to get out of the area for two days.
Can you imagine that?
Planning to leave on Friday and not being able to leave until Sunday?
As life would have it,
At that time April was living in Connecticut so it ended up being a lovely adventure.
It had been my intention to visit her while she was there and I just hadn't gotten around to it.
And then the weather happened and I was grounded in Boston.
I took the train from Boston to Connecticut and spent the weekend with her.
I also got to see a cousin who picked me up when I returned to Boston for my flight and he took me to brunch and on a brief tour of the Harvard campus.
When I arrived at the airport that Sunday afternoon,
TD picked me up.
My entire body was filled with so much joy when I saw the beautiful flowers and upgrades he had made to the garden.
There were roses,
A butterfly bush,
Indian hawthorn,
And more.
That memory is and was a reminder to me that some of the best adventures are never planned.
I do my best to say yes as often as possible.
What I've learned is when we ask questions,
It opens up more possibilities.
The question I want you to consider today is,
Where can I say yes more in my life?
Let's take a moment to take an intentional breath in through the nose and out through the mouth with a loud sigh.
Breathe in,
And out.
Repeat the question out loud,
Where can I say yes more in my life?
I'll give you about a minute to repeat the question and plant a seed for another answer at some time now or later.
Let's come back to this moment in time.
How are you feeling right now in this moment?
What will you say yes to today?
I'd love to hear your comments,
Thoughts,
Observations,
Or reflections where you're listening to this podcast.
