Never give up on happiness

In March this year I received an orchid plant as a gift for presenting at a conference. As I thanked the conference organiser for such a beautiful gift, two thoughts instantly popped into my mind. Firstly how the hell was I going to get this plant home on a bus! Secondly, how long would this plant survive in my care!

Thankfully the plant and I got home in one piece and it thrived for eight weeks. Gorgeous white flowers adorned each branch and every time I looked at it I was humbled by its beauty. Eventually however, the flowers wilted and fell off and the plant lost its attraction. I couldn’t bear to look at it, so I banished it to the balcony and there it sat for six months looking baron and forlorn. I didn’t know whether I had killed it, whether it was in hibernation or if it would ever bloom again.

Trust your intuition

I googled Orchid care and read a bit about my plant but I didn’t have the motivation or inclination to care for it. In fact, twice I thought about taking it down to the big garbage bins we have in the car park at our unit block, but I couldn’t bear to think of it being discarded that way. I continued to neglect it until one day I noticed little buds sprouting from the branches. I couldn’t believe it was still alive and thriving!

I felt so ashamed, how could I have neglected something so beautiful just because it wasn’t in flower!

I immediately took it to the kitchen, gave it a drink and started to take great care of it. Last week all the little buds opened up and once again my Orchid was in full bloom. It now takes centre stage in my lounge room as a reminder to never give up on happiness.

Never give up

Happiness is not about being in full bloom every moment of the day. There are days, possibly weeks, even months when you may feel like happiness has deserted you.

But please don’t despair.

Your happiness is always there right inside of you, just waiting for you to nurture it so it can bloom again.

Like everything that is worthwhile in life your happiness needs some time, energy and focus. You need to keep it nurtured by focusing on the things that are already good in your life. There will always be times when you are feeling negative, neutral and stressed; it’s called living a rich, full and meaningful life. The key however, is not to let these feelings sit in the divers seat for too long steering you away from happiness. Put them into the passenger seat for a while and accept that they will always be on the journey with you. By doing this you will create some space in your mind to focus on the things that make you bloom. If you do this often enough you will plant the seeds of positivity and little buds will start to poke through the branches of negativity. Before you know it you will be in full bloom again, with positive thoughts steering the way.

Be happy, colour the world.

Claire