Dear Wild Rose,

Thank you for the purposeful beauty and desirable flower essence with which you grace this World! I’ve been thinking of you and your cultivated counterpart, the long-stemmed rose, and how your uses have dramatically diverged. While you both spiritually symbolize the sacredness of one’s soul, the cultivated rose is now used to exalt one’s love for others and thus disregards one’s need to love oneself. How lovely if we recalled that the rose’s purpose also includes empowering a sense of Self-Love, celebrating each individuals’ unfolding wisdom in this life?!

As an individual who has recently created a Self-Love practice, it is important to acknowledge that this whole Self-Love thing isn’t easy (it’s really hard, actually), but it is extremely doable… even in a society that diminishes our individual value and worth. The hardest part is unlearning the habits and undervalued sense of self that have become so familiar over one’s life. Prioritizing one’s own well-being typically requires listening to one’s own guidance and not the noise that surrounds them, creating new thought-processes and brain pathways, and bucking the system and status quo. See… easy, right? Thus, I want to share some realizations that reinforce my own Self-Love practice so that it can support anyone else who desires it. These are simple, perhaps even clichéd statements that we hear all the time (who hasn’t heard, “It’s the journey, not the destination”), yet – Whaddya Know?! – doing, not just saying, the below practices are truly helping me to feel like the person I want to be:
1. I am realizing that the thoughts I think about myself and others actually impact my well-being and sense of Self-Worth. Thus, I practice letting go of judgment, redirecting my thoughts to ones that celebrate my and others’ gifts, and spending more time thinking about ideas that inspire me.
2. I am realizing that I am already a complete, whole, and worthy person who is continually unfolding. Thus, I am minimizing the thoughts that bring me down – thoughts that encourage me to believe I’m not making a difference and thoughts that compare myself to an unattainable, self-imposed super hero. It is an exercise in tuning out the expectations and requirements for Success that surround me and instead tuning my radio dial to the songs I most want to hear. It is in the hearing of my own music that I am discovering the person I most enjoy being. This is not a superhero who gets a lot of $#@! done (although I still do), but instead an individual who feels good most of the time.
3. I am realizing that my opinion of my Self is better gauged by the enjoyment of my day – not by the number of things I cross off a to-do list or someone else’s opinion of me. It feels good to feel good. And… it’s not all good! However, I am more able to be less hard on myself for my not-so-great moments and days. This contrast helps fuel my fire to continually take care of my thoughts… a daily practice, indeed!
4. Having had the goal for SIX years to establish a daily meditation practice, I am now celebrating the intentional quiet with which I begin and end each day. These short and sweet minutes encourage my mind to get in line behind my heart and bookend my day with gratitude. Most importantly, this intentional quiet supports me in loosening up, being kinder to myself, and liking the person I’m being.

Ultimately, all of the above are just examples that have worked for me and, fortunately, this day and age gives us access to so many more tools. Thus, we each get to choose what works best in supporting us on our journey.

Regardless of what the tool is, the practice is a bit like The Art of Wearing Wild Rose-Colored Glasses, eh? One Cosmic Joke of this life is that these glasses are available to each and every one of us – we’ve just forgotten that they’re resting on top of our head. Perhaps we just need more of you, dear Wild Rose, in our lives to remind us where they sit?!

It is with humble appreciation that I would like to share the impact you continue to have on me. You are woven with multiple threads throughout my days and I delight in realizing how much so. I was taught a meditation practice that incorporates the visualizations of roses with each chakra, I grow and have used your buds to create beautiful adornments for others’ bodies, I use your petals in my skincare and wellness products, and I use your essential oil in my skincare products. And now I am more deeply learning about your flower essence in the writing of this note. To say that I am impressed and grateful for you is an understatement.

Thank you again for your unbridled beauty and sweet scent that support me and everyone else in celebrating our own beauty and worth. May you continue to flourish and stay true to your essence that shines light on Self-Love!

In gratitude,
Megan Murphy

P.S. Don’t tell the chocolates and long-stemmed rose that I wrote you this note. They might think I didn’t appreciate them…