Pardon the Weeds #227

If we value and love controversary as well as the messes in any kind of epic story, why don’t we feel the same way about them in our own narratives? Is it because it’s others who are traversing in the weeds rather than us or is it that they hold the belief of finding courage as well as hope in places where fear and impossibilities breathe just as we need in our own lives or is it the presence of those mystical creatures that turns what are really ordinary tales into the grand accounts that we sit on our seats for? Or perhaps its’ that it has always been easier for us to locate the value of the weeds as an observer versus finding their worth when we are in the midst especially when we think that being in that darkness and feeling lost is the same as being a failure? Ralph Waldo Emmerson said “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered” and when we look at the beneficial accounts of weeds in the story of a field or a forest, they are a part of balancing and nourishing the soil, help to prevent erosion as well as provide a home and food for all sorts of creatures regardless of our dislike for them. If we then take the word weed and exchange it for terms that connect to us, like pain or dreaded “f” moments or fear or substance use, the good or useful quality of those experiences are harder to discover and believe in, but their purpose is also meant to help us find strength and courage in the moments when we and things become unbalanced. In other words, the difference between weeds and flowers is in how we judge them just as the distinction between failure and success is really in what we feel the virtues or lack of are for each. Sometime ago I wrote about an addict whose substance hell involved alcohol. Over his matter of time, he took what seemed impossible and changed it into “I’m possible” The short narrative is that he now refers to his substance use as his having been a professional drinker who no longer does so rather than using the phrase that he is an alcoholic/addict. The understanding about that darkness is still there in his words but the power of it has become his strength as well as providing him the ability to laugh until his stomach hurts about what has been. His story is about overcoming something while having to fight mystical creatures, also known as the pain within himself, along the way and while there hasn’t been crowds of people on the edge of their seats observing his journey, the value of it is still grand because he has been able to pardon the weeds in order to use them to nourish himself and find his way home to the place that needs him most. What person, place, thing or fictional character would you choose to be you in your epic tale? How would your choice handle the controversary and the messes that can be found on your trail? Would that option be strong and courageous in every moment with a predictable outcome, or would your particular storyline be authentic and grand through emotions and terms that at times reflect the fear and the doubt that live in the weeds and within us even though we hate what they say and how we feel when in the midst of all of that? Words matter not just because they hold the details of what has been but as an expression of our belief or value of those things and when they remain in a limited view, they prevent us from being able to pardon the weeds or transform by using them to feed our strength and courage along what are really so very heavell lives not predictable ones. After all, foreseeable storylines wouldn’t be worth noticing, don’t hold feelings of hope nor have they ever been what makes a tale epic, but weeds in all sorts of forms have always had an important presence in those narratives as well as the stories of fields, forests and our lives. Have the best day POSSIBLE for you and when you pass this way again, pardon the weeds this time because their unseen virtues are meant to be the out of the blue wins that nourish the place that needs you most just in unexpected ways that you didn’t imagine were POSSIBLE. Oh, hell sometime warriors love epic tales and so do we. Love Always, Heavell