Joy and Freedom without labels - v3-#10: AOS Dancing Orchid

Today's Picture to Ponder Photo
Unidentified Orchid in the American Orchid Society Gardens Greenhouse

I was having so much fun enjoying this unusual orchid that I totally forgot to look for the label naming it. Then when I started selecting photo(s) for today's issue of Picture to Ponder, this one popped out at me bringing a huge smile to my face.

She seems to be floating in air, joyously and freely dancing, waving her light green arms. (Note -Her right one is barely visible.) I hope she brightens your day also.

Self-Reflecting Queries
As I stated above, I was so caught up in curiosity and fun with today's orchid when I was in the Gardens last week, the label became irrelevant. It never even occurred to me to check it out.

Reflecting on this now has me wondering how often I allow myself to be experiencing whatever is there in the moment without pursuing it further. Usually, I'll mentally put a label to something and then interact with it accordingly. As I write, I realize that I was not as innocent as I'm professing to be. Despite the fact that I had not looked for it's name, I had labeled the orchid simply by "personifying" it.

Are there places in your life where you are interacting with objects and people according to their names, or your interpretations of them? If they were nameless would your behavior be any different? Can we interact with our minds being blank?

And, in a slightly different conversation, where and when do you feel most free? Does today's photo give YOU any sense of fun and freedom? If so, to what do you attribute this? Can you transfer that to other situations in life?

Lastly, please find a place in yourself - an attribute, a way of being - that you will celebrate today, following the lightness of our dancing orchid.

Comments

[Morgine]

YES what would our entire WORLD be like for each one of us, if tomorrow, we gave up labeling anything? What would happen if we stopped attempting to categorize things to make sure we put them in their right boxes. Somehow we give something a name and we feel we have caught its "essence" and that is it! We discovered it, named it, and now onto the next!

What IF we let go. What IF we totally let go. Like a woman in this video when she had a stroke http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229
who was able to be in that space for a while of not knowing and seeing things in a different way.

What IF we looked at this photograph as if we were a young child, never having before seen such a thing!! What is this? What does it do? Does it smell? Where does it live? How old is it? Wow I love the colors!! It looks a little bit like ....a lady dancing, an old man with a purple and white beard and a big nose...smile. Maybe it is a flower fairy or something I have never heard about before!!

We do this in life with the People we know. We think we know who are friends are, or who a candidate really is, or a neighbor, family member. We put them in boxes too and keep looking at the old descriptions in our mind.

I know when I walk by a tree in my yard, it is never the same tree. Things are growing and dying and changing on it all the time. Things change with people too. Their thoughts, beliefs, worries, passions, all transforming around.

Thank you Sheila for reminding us to let go and JUST BE here IN THE NOW, looking at "what is" in this moment, with life, with nature, with our friends and even with ourselves. We are all changing as well and the more we honor that, the easier life gets...smile. Perhaps...
Endless Love, Morgine