The seed idea for this post sprouted upon reading a great post by Vicki J. O’Grady-LongoVicki J. O’Grady-Longo. In which she wrote, “Like the dandelion in this crack, are you stuck, longing for deeper roots? Maybe feeling weary, working in a place that doesn’t fit?”
I commented on the above post “Fantastic post and I love the link between the dandelion flowering through a tiny crack, we too when we feel the world offering us barrow possibilities that we may grow through their narrow “holes”.
The idea that overwhelmed me to share this article is when we feel cracked what do we allow to grow in these cracks?
Cracked teeth and cracked eggshells if not dealt with allow microorganisms to grow in them and make the situation worse and riskier.
Small plants can cause concrete sidewalk cracking by exploiting existing microscopic cracks. These roots, which grow at the tips of plant roots, act as feelers, seeking out the path of least resistance for expansion.
However, we turn creatively the cracks into a host site for beneficial use such as selecting useful plants to grow in them.
One example is succulents are among the best plants for tight spaces as they generally have shallow roots and thrive with little water. Succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil (Wikipedia). Plantation of thyme in cracks is another successful and purposeful utilization of cracks.
Hope and Cracks
This brings me back to the main idea of this post. What do we fill cracks with? I mean cracks in our hearts due to facing obstacles and challenges that may crack our hearts?
If we fall into despair, we plant the seeds of helplessness and weedlike thoughts grow in these cracks and our situations worsen. We failed to see hope and allowed despair to go through the cracks in our hearts.
We may opt to keep hopeful and realize what follows troughs are peaks. This way we plant the seeds of pessimism and allow thyme-like thoughts to grow in the cracks and heal them and even make us stronger and more resilient.
Dennis Pitocco wrote the introduction for volume 5 of the soon-to-be-published book MISSION HOPE- Rediscovering and Embracing the Joy within”. In this forward he wrote, “Life, with its inevitable trials and tribulations, can bury this innate joy beneath layers of stress, disappointment, and even trauma. Yet, like a seed buried deep in the earth, it retains the potential to sprout and blossom anew”.
Char (Charlotte) Murphy, Esq wrote in her prologue of the same book, “We each bring our unique experiences and perspectives on joy without attempting to steer you toward a specific definition”.
What the book attempts to steer you is to fill your hearts with the seeds of hope that they may sprout and grow to fill the cracks of your heart with hope and pessimism. Seventeen leading writers share their life journeys with their rich experiences so that you have your hope seeds living and growing healthily.
When Pandora opened her box she let out all the evils that infest the world. Only hope remained. We get bombarded everyday with a negative stream of consciousness which can cause apathy and despair. Thank you for reminding us that we can choose hope even in these dark times.
I am not convinced they are as dark as they seem. There are green shoots of new life and hope if we look for them. Here are a few. Appreciative Inquiry is a way to create positive change that starts from searching for what is working. Re-evaluation Counselling is a way to shift the hurts that get in the way of us thinking clearly. Open Space is a way to organise meetings where people are fully engaged and have great conversations. Reasons to be Cheerful, Dailygood and Karmatube are websites where people share inspiring real life stories. If they can do it, so can we.
In order to thrive we need to evolve, perhaps we already are.
Pandora’s box emptied evils, leaving only hope. Despite negative consciousness, we can choose hope. Green shoots of new life can be found through Appreciative Inquiry, Re-evaluation Counselling, Open Space, Reasons to Be Cheerful, Dailygood, and Karmatube. To thrive, we need to evolve, and if we can, so can we.
I feel I am evolving reading your super comment.
Thank you Nick
This was very timely for me this morning. I don’t want despair and disappointment to grow in the little cracks in my day. I really appreciate your sharing this!
So happy to read your comment, Susanne and know that you ” don’t want despair and disappointment to grow in the little cracks in my day.”
I feel satisfied and relaxed now. Thank you
Hope is one of the most powerful and transformative human emotions.
It is based on a desire, on a vision of the future, but it looks far ahead, expands the horizon without there being the certainty that things will go as we have imagined. It is an opening to the possible.
And, I would add, it pushes us to take action to reach possible futures. Therefore with a proactive and not passive attitude (typical of optimism).
Hope allows us to give meaning to our life, to glimpse an ideal task to pursue that gives us strength, enthusiasm, that makes us feel part of and creators of the world. It spurs us towards the future.
If we cultivate hope we acquire, in the worst case scenario, a new strength that will make our life full of meaning. Without limiting ourselves to existing and spending each day the same as the next.
And if we may not reach the future we want to build, working every day to reach it will allow us to get closer to that ideal of happiness that we all pursue and that gives us the power to transcend the finiteness of human life.
Hope is a powerful and transformative emotion that focuses on the future and opens the horizon without certainty.
This very interesting idea Aldo Delli Paoli. You used the word transformative and not say expansive emotion.
Hope pushes us to take action and pursue ideal tasks, giving meaning to our lives and fostering enthusiasm.
I am interesting to know where about hope helping us do the ideal tasks. How and ideal for whom?
Cultivating hope can lead to a new strength and meaning in life, allowing us to transcend the finiteness of human life and achieve happiness.
This is simply great and fully true.
Thank you for your unfailing attention. The observations you make are rightly profound and I hope I can respond adequately.
In my (completely personal) way of seeing, hope is not the belief that something will go well, but the certainty that it is worth doing something regardless of how it ends. In other words (I would say psychological) it is a motivational engine that pushes individuals to take concrete actions to achieve their goals, even in uncertainty. It represents a source of psychological energy that fuels the will to live and face daily challenges with a positive perspective. For this reason, it is certainly connected to self-confidence and to one’s ability to influence the events of one’s life.
Hope can be instilled in someone by encouraging them, by supporting them morally, by strengthening their hopes, with empathy, by listening, even just by being present.
Brother Ali
I love your analogic thinking, (but I think you know that).
I love that we choose what grows in the cracks of our life – bacteria and weeds- or herbs and flowers – the expectation of pain and disease or the expectation of love and healing.
“As you sow, so shall ye reap”
Thank you for spreading hope and joy – I look forward to the book.
Alan
Thank you Brother Alan.
Yes, we have the choice to allow weeds or thyme to grow in the cracks of our heart. The choice is ours.
Indeed as we sow as we reap.
Thank you again, Brother.