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Today and yesterday (and weeks, months, years prior) . . .

Posted on: October 26, 2022 | Posted by: Kathie Neff

. . . sunflowers continue to bring joy!

Image courtesy of Bonnie Kittle via unsplash.com

Do you ever feel “off” in your day…in your body…in the events that transpire between waking in the morning and lying down at day’s end?

That was me today. Sitting down to get a head start on my blog post for this week, I drew a blank. Dullness was all I had to offer.

What can I write that will change my mood today?

Immediately I knew.

Sunflowers.

For how many years has sunflower medicine brought relief? Like a ray of sun breaking through an annoying fog, a glimpse of the bright yellow face of a sunflower makes me smile.

The medicine I refer to is not in a container of pills with an expiration date. It is simply the balm of beauty and innocence offered by sunflowers.

Real sunflowers; artful reproductions of sunflowers; professional renderings of sunflowers: Faith Ringold’s print, The Sunflower Quilting Bee at Arles; a four-year-old’s painting of a sunflower; the sunflower fall wreath on my front door—all a secret elixir for my spirit.

Image courtesy of Boudewijn Huysmans via unsplash.com

The motif of sunflowers is a throughline in my life despite the fact that I am one who gets bored with furniture arrangements; continually moving pieces around to get a new view. Sunflowers have accompanied me over 42 years (and counting) with no hint of boredom in sight. How is it that I never tire of the bright yellow flower with its dark brown, black, green or yellow face?

O mirasol, bright ray of sunshine, you brighten my heart and my life…

Image courtesy of Meriç Tuna via unsplash.com

Finding joy in simple things is a medicine that comes without a price tag or a prescribed dose. The ocean, garden, and the world of art and music each hold unique medicine to offer ourselves in times of melancholy, boredom, or when we’re in a funk. What brings you joy?

Have you taken your medicine today?

If not, perhaps a walk in your neighborhood, a drive to the ocean, a listen to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons—or a sunflower—may be just what you need.

Image courtesy of Di Maitland via unsplash.com
Image courtesy of Matthias Oberholzer via unsplash.com

Categories: Newly Widowed, Widowed, Widowed and Healing

About Kathie Neff

Kathie Neff was widowed on April 15, 2021. She and her beloved husband, Dan, were high school sweethearts and enjoyed dancing and riding horses together. They lived in gratitude, hope and forgiveness for 50 years and nine months when Dan passed quietly late at night, surrounded by their seven children who, with Kathie, were caring for him in their family home.

Dan and Kathie have been a part of Camp Widow and Soaring Spirits International since its inception, as members of Michele Neff Hernandez’s cadre of helpers from the Neff family.

Kathie believes strongly in the strength and bond that is the gift of community and brings a heart of love for all who have been affected by death and dying.

Long live love. XO

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