As the idea of Rose and Redwood was percolating in the back of my mind, ideas kept flowing in. Some of these ideas started connecting with ideas and concepts from my past. The jasmine-inspired t-shirt is one of them. To tell the story, we need to go back in time.
When I was in grade school, I told people I wanted to be a chemical engineer, an idea I’d picked up from my uncle. Part of this must have gotten stuck in my DNA because I’ve been a ‘concocter’ and experimenter much of my life. A few years ago, I started creating essential oil scent blends and using these blends in products. One of my favorite blends used the essential oil of jasmine (and, perhaps unsurprisingly, another used helichrysum).
The smell of jasmine is light and lovely.
When you look at the description on a bottle of essential oil, you often read there are purported benefits, such as working as an anti-depressant or an antiseptic. This reminded me of a school trip I’d taken to Camp Isabella in the north woods of Minnesota, where I’d learned Native Americans used willow bark to treat headaches. And it reminded me of my favorite college science class, “Plants Useful to Humans,” where I’d learned about the healing properties of plants.
What was my takeaway?
Plants can heal us.
The idea of a plant as an agent of healing is nothing new, of course. For example, you can use aloe or lavender oil to heal a burn, tea tree oil as an anti-fungal or citronella to repel mosquitos. The healing property of a plant connected with another memory.
Plants can be used to communicate emotions – and use them to heal.
I’d read the book “The Language of Flowers” by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, which tells the story of a woman who was raised in the foster system and struggles with communication. She realizes she has the gift of helping people communicate and heal through the messages of flowers. I was fascinated with the connection back to flowers and their meanings. I’d heard along the way (probably in a romance novel?) that, in the Victorian era, specific flowers were given in specific ways to communicate messages.
In working with hundreds, if not thousands, of people, I’ve observed many of us struggle with feeling emotions and in communicating them. These emotions can get stuck, under-nourished, ignored or starved.
Even the ones we call “good” don’t always get nourishment, because those feelings get buried under layers of fear, despair or frustration. We forget we can feel them. The book reminded me of another way to communicate.
Plants can help us nurture our true nature.
When I feel emotionally blocked, stressed or overwhelmed, I head to the woods. There are wonders hidden within nature and being in the woods reminds me to pause and notice. In other posts, you’ll see I write about nurturing your true nature and it’s the slogan for Rose and Redwood. I adopt nurturing as a practice to keep me balanced and centered. When I began listening to the still, small voice that pointed me to launching this company, I found myself meditating on different words, sometimes for months at a time: love, peace, compassion, surrender, perspective, curiosity… each would surface with its own place and reasons for attention. I’d draw what it meant to me or write out a short essay. Or I’d sit down – on a bench at a park, in a chair by the beach, on a blanket in the woods – any place where I felt peaceful and connected to Earth and Spirit.
I decided to commission a drawing of flowers that represented the words I’d meditated upon. One of the first affirmations I used as meditation was “I am love.” I wasn’t sure how I would use these drawings, but something inside told me to create a visual image of what was happening in my heart.
Finally, these ideas began connecting. Jasmine symbolizes love and beauty. The healing properties of the flower includes lifting up one’s mood. The smell is lovely and light, and as I mentioned, one I love to feature in the blended scents I make at home. I had an image as a physical reminder to adopt a daily practice of self-nurturing. I decided to create a shirt.
The message behind the shirt is simple: Your true nature is loving and beautiful.
Big hugs,
Erika