The Appreciation Game

[spiritualcookie]

It will be nice to manifest another one we can catch and enjoy from the comfort of our homes. And, there is always the opportunity to seek it out in the places of the world where they are more frequent

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L: Lavender

As growing season is upon us, I enjoy babysitting all my tiny seedlings on my windowsill as they grow bigger and stronger everyday. They are so full of life, full of potential, full of energy! I so enjoy watching them grow their first leaves, and cleverly point their heads to the sun. I so enjoy smelling them! The baby squash plants have such a delicious smell when you rub their leaves! I love it so much!

I thought I'd do an appreciation today for another plant I love smelling: Lavender!


I love the romantic view of them against a beautiful backdrop of stunning countryside in places such as the South of France. I love imagining walking through the fields at sunset; the smell of pure, nourishing, healing lavender scent in the air, wafting in the breeze, carressing everything with its aroma.


I love how when you rub your fingers over them, they leave their musk on your fingertips - lingering for a while. The essential oil too is such a lovely aromatic experience because it transforms over time. So intense at first, but after applying it, it transforms to being sweet and delicious as it mingles with your own body, and dissipates. As the scent develops it always reminds me of childhood smells of scented writing papers and dolls infused with floral scents that exuded scent comfortingly as you cuddled them.

I like how they spread out, leisurely giving themselves space yet looking beautiful and full. Like purple balls!


I love discovering varieties of lavender.

There's English lavender (L. angustifolia), French lagender (L. dentata), Portuguese lagender (L. latifolia), Spanish lavender (L stoechas), Italian, Egyptian lavender (L. multifida), hybrid species..

I love knowing that there are so many kinds!

I especially love the moment of surprise and delight of discovery.

I always thought lavender was purple, but apparently there are white and pink lavender varieties too! How cool!

Nana Alba / Dwarf White / Baby White / Lavandula spica Nana Alba


English Lavender Little Lottie / Englkish Lavender Clarmo, similar to L. angustifolia 'Miss Katherine'


Regal splendour Spanish lavender

And how beautiful are these "Ballerina" Spanish lavenders that have little feathery hats! They look so elegant! Like costumed dancers from the 1920s


I enjoy Elke's trick of zooming in, and noticing the beauty in the tiny details. Each little inividual flower is so sweet with its perfect flower-shaped petals!


And I enjoy seeing the wildlife enjoying the lavender too. I remember when I visited a lavender farm, there were sooo many butterflies and bees, delighting in the sweet nectar of these flowers.


I like seeing how they add colour to their surroundings, contrasting against the green in a soft, gentle way.


I love seeing the artistic pairings talented gardeners find to put when they design lavender-themed gardens. I love seeing the colours complement each other so beautifully side by side. Like a garden-sized bouquet of flowers!




And beside their beauty and scent, how wonderful that they impart so much more value than just their appearance, being powerful healers, helping for a huge array of things, from making skin happy and healthy, nourishing it and healing it in its times of need, to soothing our emotions, alleviating tensions and providing us with support. What a magical plant Source has blessed us with!

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Next Letter R

[Paradise-on-Earth]

how incredibly beautiful! I started to breathe deeper when I saw your fotos...
awww, awwwwww!!! Thank you so much!!

[Paradise-on-Earth]

This one (as INCREDIBYLY beautiful it is, including the wonderful surroundings) is no lavender, but catnip. It is somewhat terrible if you want to enjoy it's beauty, and then you have cats (not just your own, but all the neighbors cats as well)rolling around within it!







R for rolling...

Rolling on the floor is SUCH FUN! Not only in catnip (well, haven't tried it... ) ...



...sand does it, as well!! Can you feeeel the eagerness, the joy, the pleasure, the fun?



or in the snow, it feels so LIVELY!!!



or, so good: In a meadow!







Above is my beloved husband, rolling down a hill with his 3 (well, really just 2) grandsons

When we roll on the floor, we feeeeel life on our whole body!
It's as a massage from mother Earth. There are so many fragrances! So many textures. Astoundingly many rocks or other hard little items When we do it together with others, and/or down a hill... I don't think there is one who doesn't start to smile or giggle... I so love ROLLING ON THE FLOOR!



next letter: G

[spiritualcookie]

oooh! Thank you for the clarity! I never knew catnip looked so much like lavender!

Seeing the rolling photos immediately pasted a smile on my face! It is a joy seeing animals allowing themselves to do what feels good to them and rolling without a care in the world for what anyone might think of them! And we get to benefit from their beautiful freedom, innocent authentic joy and cuteness

When we roll on the floor, we feeeeel life on our whole body!
It's as a massage from mother Earth. There are so many fragrances!

I LOVE this way of looking at it so much!

[Paradise-on-Earth]

oooh! Thank you for the clarity! I never knew catnip looked so much like lavender!

Seeing the rolling photos immediately pasted a smile on my face! It is a joy seeing animals allowing themselves to do what feels good to them and rolling without a care in the world for what anyone might think of them! And we get to benefit from their beautiful freedom, innocent authentic joy and cuteness

When we roll on the floor, we feeeeel life on our whole body!
It's as a massage from mother Earth. There are so many fragrances!

I LOVE this way of looking at it so much!

[spiritualcookie]

G: Glow

I love the word glow!
I like the energy it awakens in me which feels soft, warm, cosy, comforting, soothing.
I love the images it sends to my mind, of soft lights, comforting, gentle, soothing.
Like glowing fairy lights which make a room appear cosy and pretty.


Or glowing orbs of light that light up a path at night, showing you the way.

I remember when we once stayed on holiday in Italy, near Sorrento in a lemon grove, and there were orbs of light along the path. It lit up the lemon trees from below, making the whole place look so charming!

The glow of the moon - which can be so romantic and lovely to see. The reflections of the moonlight in a body of water.. I remember looking out the window on a holiday in Italy, looking out at the Tyrrhenian sea, and enjoying the scene of a beautiful white full moon reflecting on the calm rippling ocean. Such a peaceful, pleasing, calm sight!


I like the glowing of fireflies, which always seems so magical!
I remember the first time I saw them - on that same holiday in the South of Italy, in the hills around Amalfi - it was so unexpected and surprising to see them! Amazing to see something in nature create it's own light; it's own glow in the darkness!


Creatures are so incredible!

It reminds me of the glowing wonder of bioluminescence in the ocean which I'd love to see one day with my own eyes! Organisms / plankton (Lingulodinium polyedra) in the sea light up blkue when disturbed at night. It looks like such an incredible spectacle! I'd loooove to see it and experience it in person!



As a child I used to enjoy glow in the dark effects on my pajamas! I had pink Aladdin ones where the Genie lit up! Or the glow on star and planet stickers stuck to walls and ceilings.

It filled me with such wonder and appreciation to see them at work! I remember once visiting a restroom that had all its walls and ceiling covered in star and planet stickers that glowed in the dark. When you switched the light off, it looked so cool!

There is also glowing "black light painting" artwork where it looks one way when the normal light is on, and then when you switch on a special black light, it transforms the whole image. There are galleries like that which you can visit to see this kind of mult-layered artwork. I love the creativity of it! The idea of it! The complexity of it!
It's really best seen in real life or in a video because a still image doesn't quite capture it. There's a youtube video called "The Glow In the DARK Paintings of Crisco Art" which shows some beautiful examples

I also like how when people are joy-filled and aligned, they seem to glow from within.
I remember the day when my mum came home from learning about essential oils for the first time, she was absolutely glowing! It was so beautiful to see!

Glowing conjures up so many feel-good things!

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Next letter: W

[Paradise-on-Earth]

ohhhh what a wonderful mood you have created! Your words are magic. The images you picked -so beautiful! ahhhhh.... I float...

[spiritualcookie]

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W: Waves

There's something so soothing about watching the waves lap on the shoreline.
I could watch them for a good while!


I love the gentle sound they make on a calm day as they whoooshhh up the shore and gently hushhhhhh back to where they came from.


I like how no two waves are exactly the same.
I like how each time they reach up to a slightly different place on the sand.
Each time a slightly different pattern forms along the shore.
I like their gentle unpredictableness.
It makes them interesting to watch


I love how they mould the pebbles, making them smooth and round.
They are so lovely to hold and feel their smoothness.
The exude a special kind of energy, these sea rocks


I love how the smell by the seaside often has a salty freshness to it.
I love how breezey it often is by the sea, the ocean breeze carressing your skin


I also love the waves formed in a lake when you drop something like a stone or a pebble and get to watch the ripples it forms.
It's fun seeing the ripples travel and expand as they go.


I also like these kinds of waves: ( )

I like their friendliness!
I like how they feel inclusive, and honour you with their focus and attention.
I like how they help make people feel seen and acknowledged even without the use of words

Next letter: S

[Paradise-on-Earth]

Ohhh I basked in this... like a wonderful mini-vacation! WITH a friendly wave!

[spiritualcookie]

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S: Spring Cleaning

Today I did a bit of spring cleaning, making space for new things by getting rid of old things that no longer serve me. I've held on to thousands of pieces of paper of my old university notes for many years now. (It's incredible how many papers accumulate from a 3 year course!) At first I held on to them because I thought maybe they'll be useful as the possibility of using this information for a job was still a possibility. But now I am certain my path is pointing elsewhere to my university course and I can let go of these old notes with a peaceful heart

Making space feels really good.
Shedding old no-longer-useful things also feels good.
It feels like a healthy letting go.
It feels like making room for new things.
It feels like spaciousness.

I enjoyed the sifting and sorting - deciding what to keep as sentimental mementos.
I enjoyed going through everything and reminiscing a bit too,
and being reminded of kindness of old classmates I had forgotten through messages on little hadnwritten notes

I also appreciated my younger self for sticking through this course -
When I looked through the notes when sifting and sorting, I was amazed at my perseverence and determination to stick with it on some subjects that were incredibly challenging for me to find interest in today!
It's nice to know that everything changes - and everything evolves - and thanks to that, you get to experience more interest, diversity and variety in life.

I'm so grateful that I could let go so easily.
I'm so glad I could feel at peace with this.
I'm so glad I could recognise that these things served their purpose at the time, and served me well back then, and they have done their job, and since it's complete there is no more need to hold on. It's nice to look forward to the new - to appreciate where you are now and go from here without looking back


Making this decision felt so decisive and good!
It felt like strength!
It felt like certainty!
It felt like sureness!
It felt like a sort of powerfulness

I'm looking forward to being able to re-arrange things around a bit into the new found space.
It will be so nice for everything to be tidy

When things are tidy, it feels calm and peaceful.
It feels efficient!
It feels like abundant space to put the really important, useful things.
It feels spacious and good

Next letter: G