Unlearn Traditions - Learning Beyond Flowers

In whatever context, in this space, I am talking only about FLOWERS. FLOWER WORKSHOPS.  ANYTHING ABOUT FLOWERS.  FLOWER WISDOM (if there is anything like that).

Keeping an open mind and eyes to blind spots can reveal fresh directions to old tradion and give us an appreciation for the unknown.

“You know, it’s not the strongest or the cleverest person but the one who’s most flexible that survives, its the ballerina with the most persistent attitude, dances and the one with the right passions, wins the day, right ?”

As I coach through my workshops, I realized that I am not one to advice you straight up to your typical questions, where and how to buy flowers, what is the 'trade secrets'...... Typically I let you talk and feel through your issues and then prompts you with questions that guide you to clarity.... I prefer to allow you to find solutions on your own.  This way it pushes your creativity boundary.  

But there is one particular nugget of wisdom I can recall “As I grow older, I'm continually gaining knowledge. It would make sense for that knowledge to accumulate or at least bolster up, but instead of exponentially becoming smarter, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I actually know.”

Here, I am saying a few things: It isn’t simply the breath of the rules in flower arrangement that’s essential, but rather an appreciation of the vastness of the unknown information that exists in the world; in the world of Nature that is. There are so many differing theories and philosophies circulating on any one topic. What once seemed black and white in the early years take a shift to a more gray area as we learn of alternative perspectives.  Rules and knowledge are important… until it is suddenly irrelevant and no longer is.  The depth of looking at flowers are beyond words, beyond flowers.

When implementing changes, we’re given the opportunity to approach a task creatively, think through the reasons things have been done a certain way and wonder how they can be improved and expressed differently. However, we, human tend to lend towards the comfy zone and find it difficult to deal with vision that conflicts with our current beliefs and tried-and-true methods. As a result, we may be spending valuable time on our personal and professional lives following and attending erroneous workshop courses that are inefficient or holding us back.  Again, I'm saying, look at flowers - beyond its natural beauty. 

Everyone know that it's hard to change. It takes time to observe, curate, research and implement new eyes, and it isn’t easy to admit that there is room for growth. If we consider our habits as living organisms, then it’s our responsibility to constantly tend to and grow them. When we unlearn, we should consider new questions and approach problems by challenging paradigms, questioning assumptions and relearning what’s most important to our souls and enrichment of our lives.

The practice of unlearning is about being open and exploring what’s underneath. It is not about right or wrong.  It isn’t necessarily mean bad to repeat the past, but when we’re confronted with creativity, succumbing to the old and tested way of approaches can rob us of experiences and growth. Unlearning doesn’t mean for you to discredit your experience or presume that your current knowledge will hinder success. Rather, it encourages you to remain open to different ways of getting things done.  This is true to how we approach flowers, we approach the art of flower arrangements with depth and penance and we see our art of flower arranging beyond flowers....It's a piece of artwork after completion.

Sarah.