The Brain. The Body. And the Plant Kingdom

My word - aren't all three totally awesome? Lying on the floor of my attic room I found each playing a part and each being AWESOME. Let me explain.

I feel like I'm saying it all the time at the moment, which in itself lessens it and makes me question whether it's really the case, but life is really full on just now. There's a lot going on in many different aspects of my life and it feels like a very exciting time - lots of change which, although bringing new possibilities, is also a bit scary at moments! And as a product, or a coincidence, of all this I've spent the past week or so doing battle with The Cold That Wasn't Desired. Now, I'm aware illness is rarely desirable and whenever I get ill I tend to be "oh, can't this just be over?" but this week has been different. When illness strikes I've started to get a bit more zen about it and take it as a chance to catch up with myself. But this week, of all weeks, I really couldn't be doing with being ill. There were moments I thought I'd have to call it a day (off the top of my rather muzzy head just now I can think of 2 immediately) and just when the cold was easing my hormones decided it was a suitable time to get menstrual. Which is how I found myself lying on the floor of my attic room on a Sunday evening.

Lying there I was pondering all sorts of things. I was letting my mind wander around all sorts of places (including some hopes and fears and "intractable" things which my brain seems to want to wander around a fair bit at the moment) and although I'd originally intended to do some Decompression Therapy exercises my wonderful body realised it wasn't movement it needed, it was stillness. So as I lay there, wandering around in my brain, enjoying the stillness, I began to feel my body let go of tensions, much in the way it does when I receive a Massage. And yet my magical body was doing this without having a Massage. Clever Body! Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't stop having regular Massage even if I totally mastered this "lying down and letting go" as I suspect much of the letting go came from being able to recreate that "receiving a Massage" feeling (and because receiving Massage is ace). But the way that my Brain and my Body were both taking what they needed from something as simple as lying on the floor well, I just thought that was awesome.

Which brings me to the Plant Kingdom. Life is what it is, and life already lived is just that, but I do wonder what may have been had I opted for Plant Sciences as my final uni year rather than Zoology. Because right now, I'm totally in awe of plants. Animals are great, but I'm finding a rather exciting awe-inspiring mystery with plants just now. Take spider plants: even in a pot with poor soil and marginal, if any, additional nutritional input, let alone a regular water supply (I'd love to say this was experimental. It's actually down to my previously nomadic lifestyle and my now sporadic memory in needing to water said wonders of creation) they Just Keep Growing! Amazing. Truly amazing. And the step further I go to is the place over in Grange where I get to play with a rather incredible bit of someone else's garden. 10 years ago this patch was just limestone pavement. 10 years of neglect later (and the occasional blitzing) there are self-seeded TREES (let me be clear - the deepest the soil gets is about 3 or 4 inches. These are wonderous wonderous plants growing IN ROCK! Awesome), multi-rooted brambles a-plenty, soil which has developed from unraked leaves, a couple of "planted" plants which are somehow hanging in there and so much more that I haven't even begun to understand. I say there are: I've been doing a grand job on clearing said patch with a view to planting some more food-type plants (which started this weekend with three experimental raspberry canes and an experimental rhubarb root) but the incredible ability of life to grow leaves me awestruck. Phenomenal.

So there you have it - Brain, Body and Plant Kingdom. Awe is a fabulous thing and to have it in such great supply all around me is wonderful. Thank you, World :)