Daisies have always drawn my attention. They are cheerful and humble, generous and resilient. Most people tend to overlook them. Even when treated poorly, they continue to multiply.
For me, they have always been a source of relief in moments when the mind clouds over and I can no longer see clearly, when it feels so full it might burst. In life’s harder times, and beyond. To step out of dark or negative states, all I need to do is look at a daisy, place my attention on what it might be trying to convey, and as if by magic, everything I was feeling begins to dissolve. In it, I see a boundless smile, as though it were incapable of expressing anger, frustration, or any other negative emotion I might project onto it. Only smiles, love, and humility, are gently offered with a quiet joy and a deep sense of peace.
Many years ago, a young man called me from a hospital, where his mother was gravely ill. He asked for help. I could sense he wasn’t in a place to take in anything I might say. He was lost. After listening to him and allowing him to release all the emotions that were tearing him apart, I suggested he step outside into the hospital garden and find a daisy among the many that would surely be there. When his attention settled on one, I asked him to sit with it and simply look at it, without thinking, just to observe it with an open heart, allowing whatever it might communicate to reach him. He was surprised by what I suggested.
“I tell you my tragedy,” he said, “and you tell me to go and find a daisy!”
In that moment, he couldn’t understand what might happen if he did. We spoke a little longer, and he began to calm down. Once more at ease, he said he would try. A few days later, he called to tell me that the daisy he had chosen had brought him peace.
Humility is a kind of quiet magic, but it must be the kind that comes from the soul, not the kind we perform to appear humble.
I am the force of life and so are you.
