Bud, Rose, Thorn

by Adapt Training and Development


Many people have attended a meeting or get-together where the icebreaker activity was to name one rose (something good) and one thorn (something difficult) that is happening in an area of their life. A way to enrich this activity – or maybe just think differently – is to consider naming the things that are budding in our lives.

We’re in the midst of spring going on summer and flower buds are everywhere. In my yard right now, I’m most excited about the peonies. They haven’t started blooming, but the buds are there like a promise, tightly bound, starting to show a flash of color, almost ready for the next stage. In a post from her lovely blog about healing from trauma, Gretchen Schmelzer writes, “. . . our brains and sensory systems are overtrained to see a finished task or things in their full glory. We aren’t as good at seeing the tender shoots and we certainly aren’t as good at honoring or being excited about them. Spring . . . can teach us best to see what is growing. What has just arrived. What is barely emerging.”

Now, as the weather warms and days get longer during this season of renewal, let’s take time to notice the things that are budding in our lives after such a long, cold winter.