The Importance of Growth
As we enter Spring in my neck of the woods, growth is all around us. I am based on the West coast of Ireland and in recent times the flowers have returned, hibernating animals are reawakening and there is a liberating stretch of light in the mornings and the evenings. I always like this time of year with the promise of all that is to come in the Summer months ahead. It is a time of hope and rebirth.
We too are an integral part of nature, although you would wonder sometimes on Macro level if we are? I say that because of the way humanity plunders the earth's finite resources, with little regard for the planet and more interest in "adding the half pence to the pence" as William Butler Yeats puts it so eloquently. We are though very much part of nature and beneath all of the customs, morals and traditions we too are animals or mammals if you want to be technical about it.
Like all of natures treasures we too grow from the Spring time of our lives, through the Summer of adolescence and early adulthood, into the Autumn of middleage and onwards to our Winter years.
Of course we change physically along the way, the hairs turn grey or perhaps fall out for some, the body shape changes for others and we change from young and carefree to older and hopefully wiser.
As we add more years to the account, we grow in mind too, we mature and learn life's lessons. We can spot phoneys that bit quicker and know who to keep close and who to keep at arm's length. We learn not to take ourselves or indeed life in general too seriously, as we come to realise that life is fleeting.
We come to understand that material goods do not guarantee happiness, although they can sometimes help. A great expression to hit this point home about the folly of materialism is this:
In other words, you can't take it with you, so don't get too hung up on money, earnings and financial prowess. There is so much more to life. The wisest among us come to realise and appreciate this the quickest and they tend to the live the fullest and most rewarding lives.
Let them make their own mistakes
As a father withhis fair share of grey hairs on my head and in my beard, I like to believe that I have gained some wisdom over the years. I've always loved the company of older people, like my parents, my friends parents, my grandparents, my aunties and uncles. They all imparted different knowledge and life lessons upon me and have helped me to become a fairly rounded and relaxed person I hope.
You want to impart this knowledge onto your kids and you try to teach them moral lessons on how to do the right thing. You want them to be honest, honourable and kind. You want to tell them about what you have learned and how best to approach things, but that advise won't always land well, especially with teenagers, who of course know everything 😉
You do have to let them learn for themselves too though and to learn from their own mistakes. Of course we don't want our kids to go down the wrong path, but it is important for their growth and development that they are given time and space to discover their own strengths and weaknesses and understand their own unique talents.
To borrow again from the growth in nature analogy, they start out as the bud of the flower above, and with the right love, support, forgiveness and acceptance they can flourish just like the beautiful flower below.
A nod to the past
Anyone looking at the two photos above would see a young shrub and some flowers in dire need of some weeding, but there is more at play here. For as long as I can remember my Granny's house was visible from my kitchen window in the house I grew up in.
Almost twenty years ago, she went to the great gig in the sky and still looks down on me and blesses me everyday, beautiful soul that she was.
On front of her house was a huge hedge, which was recently completely cut away. My sister in her wisdom kept some offcuts and I acquired one, which is growing in the pot now and which will eventually grow to be in my garden and so a little piece of my Granny's house will live on in my garden.
This shrub will grow as my boys grow and hopefully some of the knowledge my Granny imparted on me will be imparted on my boys from their Grandparents who they are lucky to still have four of, I only ever met my Granny, my other three Grandparents died before I was born.
I will leave you with these quotes about growth. Mind yourselves, rub a dog, smile at a stranger.
“Mistakes are the growing pains of wisdom.” – William George Jordan
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anaïs Nin
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.” – Andy Rooney
Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.
Peace Out
