Are you struggling with your skin?

I watered my garden today.⁠
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I usually don’t get the chance.⁠
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The centre of an arum lily filled with water and held it, like a cup, just for a fleeting moment.⁠
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But then, there was too much water. It bent from the weight, and the water poured out.⁠
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As I watched, it reminded me of us humans. ⁠
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We fill our centres with emotions, but we can only hold so much.⁠
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Then it all spills out… whether in tears or anger or frustration, it has to be emptied.⁠
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Like the lily, we can only hold so much.⁠

I looked around my garden, as I do when I get a moment to look carefully. I asked what it has to teach me.

I looked closely at the flowers that were blooming. One can see how they all are trying to acquire their own space to flourish.

Some require a helping hand from others.

The passionflower vine, has gently and steadily wrapped itself around the thin stems of lavender, raspberry plants and roses, as well as the fencing to help its journey and lengthen itself across the area it has been planted in.

Earlier that morning, every passionflower had been closed tightly. By this time in the evening, three had opened – within the space of a couple of hours. In just a couple of hours, in the sunlight, they had bloomed.

The roses were flourishing, many in groups of multiple heads, but they do not compete with one another. They simply, bloom.

They are each competing for space, to flourish, but do not care what competition is beside them or close by – they solely compete for their share of space, light and nutrients.

I have watched the apple tree over the years grow and produce more and more apples. Each year, when the apples begin to show, I know we are heading into summer, and I think about how quickly another winter seems to have passed.

Over time, many new apple tree branches have sprouted towards my home and over the fence. It is like the tree ‘leans’ into my garden, checking out what’s going on – peering over to say ‘hi’.

I walked around and gave each plant my focus, each plant its dose of water to aid in its nourishment and I thought – we humans are no different.

We are all competing for our space to bloom, but we should remember that to flourish, we only need our space, the right nourishment, and an ample dose of light.

We need not worry about (what we may consider to be) competition surrounding us.

Worrying about competition, how they are blooming, or how they are doing so (other than to learn from) is not important.

Surviving and discovering our way, is all we need to focus on.

So many times, I see strong, overwhelming emotions that have been cooped up so long that they finally release, finding an outlet through the largest organ our bodies have – our skin.⁠

So, if you’re struggling with your skin, ask yourself the question…

Are you holding too much?

Maybe it’s time to let some of it go.

Sometimes it seems that we are being buried, but in fact, we are being planted.