15 Comments

Your ability to reframe your perspective, from seeing weeds as a nuisance to seeing them as a gift of love, is truly inspiring. It's a reminder that our perception shapes our reality. By choosing to see the love and beauty in the weeds, you transformed a potentially negative experience into a positive one. This is a powerful lesson in mindfulness and gratitude.

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Thanks for your comment, Alexander. You give specificity to my essay, defining the mindfulness and gratitude embedded in it. I admit I struggle with both of these, and I have to work diligently to foster positive reframes so that I can rewire my brain to form new neural connections toward gratitude.

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I think we all end up struggling with it, no matter how good any of us pretend to be!

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Sep 6Liked by Jeannie Ewing

Lovely read. If you have a friend with pet rabbits, your children could pick the dandelions and clover and feed to the bunnies, (provided they haven’t been sprayed with pesticides of course). Buns absolutely love them and it’s a nice way to use up the weeds and bring some joy to the kids.

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That's true, and we do have friends with pet rabbits. Thanks for the idea, Cathy!

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This reminds me of another of Wayne Dyer's sayings "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." A weed became a flower. What is often considered a "nuisance", a weed, became a gift.

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I love that perspective, Doreen. Thank you! What a powerful quote.

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This reminds of the time my daughter, a toddler at the time, handed me a weed and proudly proclaimed, “Look, Mommy. I’m holdin’ a rose.” I still have it in a ring box.

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That is so precious, Shay. Definitely worth keeping in a box.

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Hi Jeannie,

What a great, insightful read! I love that quote by Wayne Dyer. Like you I hate weeding. And weeds are everywhere. It's so sweet when our children give us weeds or any other type of plant as a present. My daughter used to give me dandelions as presents, so I totally relate.

Although I have a garden, I hate gardening. And a huge part of that hate is attributed to weeding.

Thank you for this excellent post.

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I appreciate your thoughts here, Beth. Thank you 😊

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"I can’t stay atop the necessity of regular weeding. As a result, I do nothing. I allow nature to do what it will, and then I hate what the consequences are." Oh goodness, can I relate! My son, now 21, used to bring me rocks as a gift. I started saving them in mason jars and glass vases which are now spread throughout my home. One time, on the way home from Westport, CT, he handed me a rock from the back seat. I was confused - "where did you get this?" I asked. "From the store!" he said. He had swiped a rock from the display in the Patagonia store - that rock has a position of honor on the top of a crystal bowl filled with other rocks. Thank you for a great read!

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Awww, rocks! How precious. We never know what sort of viewpoint our kiddos have when they see things we don't see. Like rocks or weeds. Thanks for sharing this, Christina.

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Sep 6Liked by Jeannie Ewing

Glad to hear that you changed your perception of weeds. I love dandelions especially in the spring. Sweet story.

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Thanks, Joline!

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