The Language of Flowers

Flowers ....the moment we hear the word, we are sure to feel it in our hearts...we may not notice it but it sure happens. That is one reason why we get flowers for almost any occasion, whether happy or sad one, somehow we need flowers. The fragrance, the softness, the colours, and its nature on the whole is something words can never explain. Its a reminder to show the beauty of life can be contained in such delicate petals. And yet, people are never satisfied to see things as it is. We must give it another dimension with our own interpretations and names and meanings and then use it as though we created them in the first place! 

This book, The Language Of Flowers is a novel about an orphan who had the ability to connect to all flowers and was able to help people change their lives by choosing certain flowers for them.

She had a dictionary to learn the flowers names and its meanings as it was recorded since ancient times. Like, Acacia means Secret Love, Aloe means grief, Baby's breath means everlasting love, Basil means hate, Orchid means Refined Beauty, and different colours of roses meaning different things like pink is  Grace, Red is love, yellow is infidelity and the list goes on for hundreds and hundreds of flowers and its colours and meanings. 

Then, in one part of the story, one of her friends explains about the meaning of the quote "A Rose is a rose is a rose" a sentence written by a women named Gertrude Stein in a poem. It simply means things are what they are. What we call it is not going to change the nature of it. 

Made me think, why do we name and interpret everything we see and feel? Cant we just look at it as it is? For example below is a picture of a yellow rose i snapped myself in a nursery in Dunstable, England 3 years ago.

I can still feel the joy i felt looking at such a brilliant creation of nature...the colour especially! The most beautiful yellow i have seen in my entire life and it gets reddish in the deep center of the flower, the petals were silky smooth, soft and made perfect outlines like how u see in sketches and paintings... and i am sure you can imagine the fragrance....such beauty...but unfortunately someone centuries ago must have been in a bad mood on that day to have thought the yellow rose means Infidelity!! Why? Seriously? Why ruin such a magical creation?! I also remember in school, friends saying...Red is for love and yellow means jealous especially during Valentines day...you cant buy this gorgeous yellow rose for someone you love because it means you are jealous!! How strange is that? 

Say no one named this flower...then wouldnt you by all means pick it to be given to someone you love. Well...i will never be able to pick it from the plant and ruin the wholeness, but if it was in the flower shops and if i was choosing one single rose to show my love then this would be the one....so bright...so joyous, so strong yet soft.

   

 Just like the flowers, we have named everything we see and not only named but also given it meanings to which we have become so used to that we cant see it any other way! Of all things that we have named the worst would be ourselves. We have named ourselves and then never go beyond that name. We forget what we really are inside. We have simply become our name...the description fits just the name but not who we are within. We are so obsessed with names that sometimes we even forget that we are human beings or maybe most of the times! Coz if we remembered, then we would be nothing but full of love, joy and peace. But being our names, we become everything else....full of hate, anger, sadness and confusion. Once we see beyond our names, we will slowly begin to see who we really are. Just like this yellow rose, then we will show the beauty which is so obvious yet goes unnoticed. 

So as a start to this beautiful year, lets learn how to see things as they are....the skies are just skies....the sun is a sun...water is water....you are you ...no descriptions attached...no interpretations ....nothing.