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Chapter 36
Flower Essences: Finding The Essence of Life
“The black squares on a checkerboard alternate with the white. Even so, everydarkness in life alternates with light, every sorrow with a joy, every failurewith a success. Change and contrast are inevitable, and are what make thegreat game possible. View them dispassionately, and never allow them to define who you are, inwardly.”
-Paramhansa Yogananda
THE GREAT GAME
“You have to live anyway,” Yogananda said. “Why not live in the right way?” Each of the following guidelines for right living paraphrases one of the Spirit-in-Nature Essences.
Lettuce: Be calm. Let your thoughts, words and actions flow from a quiescent place within you. Let your presence be calming to others.
Coconut: Know that inherent in every problem is its solution. The answers you seek to life’s challenges lie within your ability to perceive the questions. Live an inspired and inspirational life.
Cherry: Be happy! Resolve in your mind that no one and nothing can rob you of this happiness.
Spinach: Let the child within you come out and play. Skip, dance or sing. Above all, don’t take yourself or anyone else too seriously.
Peach: Be sensitive to the needs of others. Give from your own wholeness; love for the sake of loving.
Corn: Put energy into everything you do; energy begets energy. Affirm that you have more than enough vitality to accomplish any task set before you.
Tomato: Make it a habit to act from your strengths. Empower yourself with the thought that you are bigger than any trial and thus victorious.
Pineapple: Know yourself, and know that you know. Life is your friend; greet it as such with straightforward confidence.
Banana: Be little in your greatness and goodness. Always be willing to step out of the way and view yourself as a mere passing event for which you are responsible.
Fig: Roll with the punches. Be flexible in your habits and attitudes. Be not self-limiting, but rather self-liberating. You may have to live with yourself a long time, so enjoy your own company!
Almond: Interiorize your mind. Be the master of your senses and desires instead of vice versa. Commit yourself with great vigor to your endeavors.
Pear: Choose to remain unruffled during the most extenuating circumstances. Become the cure instead of the malady.
Avocado: Wake up! Be interested in your life, the lives of others, and in life itself. Never stop learning, questioning or creating.
Apple: Bring the crispness of an apple to your thoughts. Fill your mind with a diet of positive, life-affirming attitudes. Do a cleansing fast from all worries
Orange: “Smile, and the world smiles with you.” Forget everything that has made you unhappy. Smile until it hurts.
Blackberry: Hold the image of yourself as taintless, like a crystal clear window. Instead of reflecting off of you, imagine light radiating out from within and through you. Identify with that light.
Date: Resolve to see everything around you as sweet. Reach out to people, and allow yourself to be touched in return. Judge no one; accept everyone just as they are. What we see is what we become.
Strawberry: Hold your body with poise. Speak from quiet integrity. Realize that whatever has happened to you in the past, good or bad, has no bearing on the present. Know that, as you are respectful of others, you are also deserving of their respect.
Raspberry: Forgive your transgressors. Forgive yourself. Act from wholeness instead of reacting from woundedness. Above all, live kindly.
Grape: Be loving, and you will be supremely lovable. Let love be the depth and breadth of your existence.
THE BEGINNING
Flower essences are at our disposal, ultimately, to remind us of our innate perfection. In gentle, non-invasive ways, they tell us that we already are our highest potential. We need only to realize this truth.
In the words of Thoreau, “Every man is his own masterpiece.” May these essences serve you well as tools with which to sculpt your life and assist you in your service to others. Truly, life is a checkerboard, resplendent with alternating segments of light and dark, poverty and prosperity, health and sickness, sorrow and joy. With equanimity, poise and balance, we come to understand our part in it all.