Practical Steps on the Journey from Bud to Flower: Are You Willing to Take the Risk to Blossom?

Have you ever been told to “bloom where you are planted?” While these words can mean that we need to make the best of any situation we find ourselves in, they also suggest that we should strive to discover and express the flowering nature of ourselves. We sense that a beautiful blossom has been in the making and we long to experience it’s emergence. After diving in to this idea, I came up with some practical steps on the journey from bud to flower.

The essential power in our artistic and intellectual creations can only grow through our willingness to express them. So, the risk is to express. This often means sending our roots deeper into the soil of our own being, trusting that what we have to offer has value. Deeper roots mean growing through life, not just going through life; allowing life to truly touch us, so that we can touch others.

The lyrics to my song “When Brave Hearts Rise” state, “I will rise and claim my power, I will blossom I will flower.” But what does this mean? I mused upon the writings of three amazing women to help me understand my own lyrics and take the meaning deeper. Anais Nin famously stated, “And the day came when the risk [it took] to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” To me, this means that we need to let go of the notion that self expression can happen without risk. Both expression and non-expression can contain painful experiences. Embrace them as a necessary part of the journey.

We do have to expend some effort to rise and grow wings. C. Joybell C. states, “A water lily is born under the water, inside the soil at the bottom of the river or lake. And the water lily has always been a water lily for that whole time that it was sprouting out of the wet soil, reaching up through the dark water towards the sunlight, stretching and grasping for the surface; where it then buds and blooms on the outside in the sunshine.” It’s good to remember that our journey towards self-expression happens both in the light and the darkness.

We don’t bud and bloom before we send down deep roots. That brings me to the profoundly wise words of of my third collaborator, Clarissa Pinkola Estes; “I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom.” Our efforts, our joys and our frustrations are companions on our creative journeys. Our personal stories are intricately connected to the outcomes we are able to express.

To grow from bud to blossom takes courage. At each step of the journey we must ask ourselves to trust that expansion is most likely necessary. Staying safe in our little bud state cannot help us deliver our gifts. We must also realize that having the courage to blossom and flower comes with it’s own challenges.