Avocado Flower Essence: “The Mindful One”

Qualities:

Good memory

Message of Self-Mastery: 

 Mental focus; remembering details; joy in challenging the mind; for exams, puzzles, word games; new projects; greater awareness; attitude of “now I get it”; for tracing back to past traumas with clarity; helps past issues to surface to the conscious mind; learning from mistakes.

Pattern of Disharmony: 

 Forgetfulness; absent-mindedness; dullness; missing details; going along without purpose or direction; for the “out to lunch” state; “sowing wild oats.”

AFFIRMATION

I accept willingly all that comes to me, for all things are divine gifts of love!

POSITIVE EXPRESSIONS

NEGATIVE CONDITIONS

TESTIMONIALS

“Avocado helped me with focus and clarity of thought, despite a diagnosed chemical imbalance in my brain.” -HJ, Downey, CA

“I took Avocado because I needed to carry through with the details of a project. Now I have a ‘to do’ list that really helps me stay organized.” -RJ, Ontario, Canada

“Avocado has helped my memory. I am able to live more in the present but can also recall and retain past events much easier than before. I also remember my dreams in greater detail when I take Avocado right before. I go to sleep.” -MR, London, England

“My friend said she got an A on her midterm after taking Avocado.” -TS, Mountain View, CA

“I cook at a retreat center. My week on Avocado produced very creative dishes. Because I’m also an artist, I felt I could bring all my talents together into the cooking: balancing color, new ways of doing grains and vegetables. Every day, I was amazed.” —BA, North San Juan, CA

“I’ve been at an emotional crossroads with my husband. Avocado has helped me to feel more guidance and direction.” -ML, Rocklin, CA

FAMOUS QUOTE

“Lull’d in the countless chambers of the brain,
Our thoughts are link’d by many a hidden chain;
Awake but one, and lo, what myriads rise!
Each stamps its image as the other flies.” -Alexander Pope

FLOWER /FRUIT/FOLKLORE

Aztec priests attributed aphrodisiac powers to this luscious fruit native to central America that now grows in subtropical areas such as Florida and California. An evergreen of the laurel family, the tree reaches a height of sixty feet. The avocado pear is propagated by the seed. Its flowers, small and white, grow in terminal clusters. There are over four hundred varieties of avocado, ranging in size and color. The avocado, called a perfect food for its balance and abundance of nutrients, is high in calories and fat (twenty-five percent) from its fruit oil content. Rich in fourteen essential minerals, vitamin B and protein, it helps to regulate bodily functions and stimulate growth. Lowering blood cholesterol, relieving psoriasis, and toning the skin and hair are some of its medicinal properties.

SPECTRUM PLACEMENT

(see explanation of The Essence Spectrum Chart)

With Pear planting us firmly on the ground, we now move to Quadrant III’s third house-Avocado. From Pear’s steadiness arises the clarity and sharp mental focus of Avocado. This essence contains Quadrant III’s maturity and the Spectrum’s masculine virtues of manifested strength through the joy of mental challenges. In no uncertain terms, Avocado represents a solid mental footing-knowing ourselves and the direction we want to take with our lives.

POSITIVE APPLICATIONS

The positive Avocado state is like opening a window in a boarded-up room. Avocado not only awakens attentiveness, but the zeal to apply ourselves as well. Instead of being mentally absent, day-dreamy, disorganized or spacey, we are awake and alert. Avocado boasts that state of readiness to complete the task before us, be it studying for an exam or making a major career decision. Positive Avocado implies a strong sense of direction and the willingness to move forward with purpose.

The following story humorously illustrates Avocado’s mental focus and fixity of purpose:

“My son is a football player,” wrote Colleen. “In his first year at college he was told by a professor, ‘Buddy, keep going the way you are, and you’ll be out of here soon. You’re digging yourself in deep.’

“He was in college only for football,” she continued, “wondering in his freshman year how he was going to get through four years of university. On a hunch, I put him on Avocado. All of a sudden, he was studying and bringing his homework to breakfast. My 210-pound, 6’4″ son had developed a love for French, history, and literature!”

Avocado’s message of good memory extends beyond shopping lists and the ability to tag correct names onto long-forgotten faces. Its motto is mental dexterity-a mind poised at the starting gate waiting to begin the race; an intellect that welcomes unsolvable problems and mental endurance tests, much like a well-toned athlete looking forward to training sessions. The mind is like a muscle; the more we exercise it, the more it grows.

NEGATIVE INDICATIONS

Conversely, the negative Avocado state manifests as attitudes of shirking and shrinking. These noncommittal attitudes-always self-chosen-leave us on the sidelines, rendering us spectators of our own lives. In the negative Avocado state, we repeat the same mistakes over and over because we “just don’t get it.” I have a friend who jokingly says that he always makes different mistakes, thus refusing to succumb to the negative Avocado state. What he is actually saying is that he is at least putting out the energy to learn from his mistakes, thereby eliminating the need to repeat them.

Being dreamy, forgetful, and anywhere but in the moment indicate the need for Avocado. Living in the past is another negative Avocado trait. So is regretting past words or actions we cannot change. Avocado deals with the quality of our thoughts, both waking and sleeping. Many people report changes in their dreams on Avocado. When the conscious mind is sharpened, the subconscious mind also reflects a certain clarity.

THEME CHARACTERISTICS

(see explanation of Theme Flower Essences)

Avocado themes and those in the positive Avocado state love to ask questions, fix things, figure out how they work and why they don’t. Doing something in a new way is thrilling for them. Designing, solving and studying are favorite pastimes of the Avocado theme. There’s no mental couch potato here! In fact, the stereotypical computer nerd could well be an Avocado theme. One important distinction between Avocado and Corn themes is that Avocados are the mental explorers of an intellectual wilderness, while Corn themes pioneer the land and sea through their physical actions.

These themes express a strong energy characteristic of Quadrant III. Avocado theme women possess a well developed masculine nature. And both the men and women will have a strong sense of identity, purpose and direction. Visually oriented, they often have intense eyes and look directly into yours when speaking to you, just as they look intensely into the nature of things. They are alert and focused. Their magnetism draws others out of any mental sloppiness, their energy wordlessly admonishing, “Wake up!”

FAMOUS THEME PERSONALITIES

• Stephen Hawking
• Bobby Fischer
• Bill Gates
• Data of “Star Trek”
• Dr. Spock of “Star Trek”
• Walt Disney
• Stephen Spielberg
• Carl Jung
• Admiral Richard Byrd
• Sherlock Holmes

Only an Avocado theme would even attempt to solve the puzzles and paradoxes of the universe. Born in 1942 on the anniversary of Galileo’s death, Stephen William Hawking is considered one of the great minds of this century-and is one of few overqualified for his position as an Avocado theme! This British theoretical physicist, in true Avocado form, sought to explain the mysteries of deep space, black holes and the Big Bang theory.

Professor Hawking now speaks through a voice synthesizer. He has been confined to a wheel chair since 1966 when he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease, an incurable degenerative disorder of the nervous system. A Coconut sub-theme, he has tackled the most challenging physical tests and turned them to his advantage. Only without the distracting influences of a functional body, he affirms, can he have the mental freedom for his work.

Carl Sagan writes in the introduction to the professor’s ground breaking book, A Brief History Of Time: “Hawking is attempting, as he explicitly states, to understand the mind of God. And this makes all the more unexpected the conclusion of the effort, at least so far: a universe with no edge in space, no beginning or end in time, and nothing for a Creator to do.”

CONFESSIONS OF AN AVOCADO THEME: IN BRUCE’S WORDS

“Quirks to my personality? I love change, and I tend to set up routines for myself-which is a paradox. I get the most fun out of concentrating on doing one thing, and yet most of the time I’m doing many things at once. Sometimes it’s the nature of my work. My mind is easily sidetracked into doing other things. I’m a jack of all trades, so to speak, and an administrator of a retreat facility.

“My mind is extremely active but very much out of control most of the time. It loves humor. I just love to laugh. Emotions-well, I got lots of ’em. When I actually get down to dealing with them as opposed to just being swamped by them, I’m not really into the psychological approach to things. I’m after deeper change than that-like affirmations.

“I tend to be quiet in a group situation. I would rather listen than talk. I enjoy listening, so it’s not like I’m stuffing it or anything. To make a long story short, other people are more interesting to me than I am. I tend to make very different kinds of friends-people who would not be friends with one another. Like in school, I was friends with the jocks, with the dopers, with people who studied hard, and friends with people who partied. I attribute this to feeling that I don’t need people to validate my behavior in order for them to be worth knowing. I don’t feel that somebody has to be doing what I’m doing with my life to be an interesting, enjoyable person. It’s just the stimulation of hearing about different experiences and different ways of looking at things.

“I definitely have a learning desire-for experience more than learning. I like to know about things, but I don’t like to go through the process of learning. But experiences-I just enjoy different experiences. I have a good memory, not a tremendous memory. I remember people, tend to be able to remember things I’ve read, even down to where it was on the page. Not photographic, though. The mental side of my nature is dominant, it’s happening.

“I love avocados, they’re one of my favorites. Well, my family used to have an avocado grove. It was a beautiful place to work-I loved working there in about ten acres of avocado trees. I had almost no experience with them until I was about sixteen and then, since we had the grove, I figured I should taste them. I couldn’t really tune in to them very well-they’re an acquired taste. Now I think they’re really wonderful. I like them in sandwiches, in salads, in omelettes or alone with a touch of tamari. To me, you just don’t put avocados together with oranges. They don’t belong with fruits, even though they are one.”

WRAPPING IT UP

Some years ago I enrolled in a calligraphy class taught by a very lively older man-and a perfect Avocado theme. As a grand finale to the last class, he recited by heart several long and melodious poems by a currently fashionable author. “They say if you can memorize,” he added, “you can retain your memory longer.” Indeed, memory loss is not an occupational hazard of the aging process. A weak memory, Paramhansa Yogananda said, is caused by two things: lack of concentration; and the mental blocks people raise in rejection against some of life’s experiences.

The Sanskrit word smriti, meaning remembrance of our true state of perfection, is an apt definition for Avocado. In essence, we have nothing, or “no thing,” to learn-we need only remember. Oscar Wilde defines memory as “the diary that we all carry about with us.” This diary is our autobiography, carved out of our unique lessons-trials, errors and all-as well as the memory of who we truly are. Avocado helps us to be consciously aware that the moment we mold in the present moment is our opportunity to remember our own perfection.

ESSENCE ENHANCERS

Mentally challenge yourself with word games, board games and puzzles.

Learn a foreign language and plan a trip to a country where it is spoken.

Invent something-mechanical, culinary or whatever sparks your imagination-and test it out. Take a night class or correspondence course in an area of interest.

At bedtime, mentally review the events of the day and what you have learned from them.

VISUALIZATION

It is the peak of autumn. The cloak of a cooler climate envelops the ground. The misty October winds entice the clouds to clap with thunderous delight, applauding the chilly afternoon. Droplets of rain trickle through the heavens’ upturned palms. Amorphous pools of water collect in the rutted gravel road beneath your feet. If you don’t step carefully around them, your walking shoes will soon be soaked.

Remember being a child and stepping smack in the middle of the puddles-directly after being told not to? Well, no one’s looking-go ahead. Splash and stir as loudly as you like. Now, step back and squat down beside the puddle. Once clear, now it is clouded. How like a distracted, unfocused mind, this mud puddle! The crystal raindrops of moments ago are now a “sedimental mess.”

Focus on this little pool of water. Watch what happens as the mud of directionless, distracted thoughts settles. Clarity returns. Purpose and mindfulness surface once again.

Call up this image, like a file on your mental computer, whenever your mind is clouded. Transmute the erstwhile muddle of forgetfulness into the crystal pool of remembrance.