Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me,
Liz Scott,
On a delightful spring afternoon.
As I walk on the shaded lanes and feel the warmth of the spring sunshine,
My heart is full of gratitude at the beauty of spring.
And today I've noticed the very,
Very humble dandelion.
The dandelion,
With its bright,
Round,
Yellow flower head,
That seems to grow everywhere.
It grows in the lawns,
It grows in the hedgerows,
It grows in the flower beds.
The dandelion is one of those plants that seems to take root and grow wherever there is the tiniest,
Tiniest bit of soil.
And I love the dandelion,
I love the yellow of the dandelion,
But I know this dandelion,
For many gardeners,
Is a weed.
And when those bright yellow flowers seem to suddenly and miraculously turn into the white,
Fluffy seed head of almost like a cloud,
That then blows in the breeze and spreads the dandelion seeds,
Hundreds of seeds all over the land.
And the gardeners pull up those dandelions that end up in their gardens and curse them because they're quite tough to pull up.
But I learned something from the dandelion.
There's something about the dandelion which I find quite inspiring.
And it's this.
The dandelion is absolutely glorious in being a dandelion.
It doesn't want to be anything else.
And when it comes to spreading seeds,
It doesn't hold on to its seeds and only plant seeds where it knows that they will grow.
It doesn't say,
I can't put my seeds down in this soil because it won't grow here,
Or I can't put it in this patch of ground because the gardener will pull it up.
The dandelion seed head has a generosity,
And that generosity is that wherever the seeds land,
Wherever they go,
That is fine.
If they land on the tarmac and never grow,
That's okay.
If they land on stony ground and there's no soil,
That's okay.
If they manage to find the tiniest bit of soil in between the cracks on the pavement and they take root there,
That's okay.
The dandelion grows wherever it can grow,
But the seeds are flung far and wide.
And what I love about this is that in that generosity of just sharing seeds,
There is a letting go.
And I'm reminded of the importance of letting go when it comes to sharing what I want to share in the world.
There is a sense sometimes that I have to hold on to something.
I'm concerned that it might not land well.
I'm concerned that people might judge what I have to say.
I'm concerned that it won't take root.
I'm concerned that it might take root or be misconstrued,
And so I keep my mouth shut.
And yet today I am reminded of the dandelion.
I am reminded of the importance of sharing,
Sharing freely and generously whatever it is that feels that needs to be shared,
And giving up worrying where that message lands and whether that message takes root.
So the message for me,
And I'm going to suggest the message for you too,
Is reflect on the dandelion.
It is unashamedly a weed.
It unashamedly just brightly stands and shares its beautiful yellow flower head,
And then equally unashamedly it spreads its seeds without care of where they land,
Or whether they take root,
Or whether they're liked or loathed.
It just spreads its seeds,
And I take real comfort from that,
And I take inspiration from that.
Be more dandelion.
Share freely,
And don't be concerned whether what I say lands well or takes root.
Just share freely.
