Hellebore Niger

Hellebore niger

I went grocery shopping at the food coop today and found a plant i've been looking for for 3 years! Hellebore niger. Also called Christmas Rose.

By this time, we all have lots of Hellebore in our shade gardens. Lots of Hellebore orientalis. Mine has even started to self-seed.

The thing i like about niger is that it looks straight at you. Orientalis hangs its head, and it's hard to really see it. But it does come in many shades of white through pinks all the way to burgundy.

Hellebore orientalis

Niger also blooms earlier, first thing in the spring, and is a welcome sight with its white flowers competing with the crocus (and winning!)

The next time you express gratitude to someone, try looking them straight in the eye. The neuroscientists tell us this eye contact releases oxytocin, a bonding hormone.

Yes, it's much easier to mumble "Thanks" and look down at the floor or anywhere else but directly into someone else's eyes. Eye-to-eye contact is so intimate. It's the direct route to our heart.

I'm going to go look my new Hellebore niger in the eye and express my deep appreciation to it.

Photo from freshbynorthwest.com

Internal Weather

We're living in a rain forest this week. Or as they call it in Costa Rica, a cloud forest. Mist and drizzle has been nearly continuous for several days.

Usually, a steady mist makes things green--as it does in the Pacific Northwest and in Ireland--but we are in the red/orange/yellow time of year here in the North Country--colors that look great against a blue sky.

Even though temperatures in in the 60s, i feel cool in this misty, cloudy weather, and wear long sleeves and long pants.

What mood permeates your own internal weather? Neuroscientists have delineated 6 emotional styles* that they can "see" in their pictures of the brain.

Resilience:
Do you bounce back quickly from upsets and downturns?
Or do you have a slow recovery such that upsets and downturns continue to bother and worry and plague you for hours or days?

Outlook:
Are you a bright optimist?
Or a dark pessimist?
(Or somewhere in between?)

Social Intuition:
Are you frequently puzzled by the actions and words of people around you?
Or do you have the ability to see right through people and thereby navigate toward what you want?

Self-Awareness:
Are you unable to put words to how you feel? How do you feel anyway?
Or are you quite aware of your emotions and articulate?

Sensitivity to Context:
Are you tuned out to your environment? (Perhaps like the absent-minded professor?)
Or are you tuned in to the needs and requirements of social situations?

Attention:
Does your attention wander? Is it unfocused?
Are you able to focus in and concentrate easily?

What's your internal weather?

Mindfulness meditation can help us shift our natural tendencies. The ADHD person begins to feel calmer. The dark pessimist begins to brighten.

Today, i think i'll turn up the internal brightness by expressing gratitude and sending loving-kindness to myself.


*The 6 Emotional Styles come from the work of Richard Davidson and his book The Emotional Life of Your Brain.

Cause and Effect

Yesterday i spent half the day outdoors--hauling bark mulch in a wheelbarrow, hauling brush to a brush pile, laying big roundish river rocks along the edges of a path.

Today my body aches, my lower back is tired, and i move stiffly.

Cause and effect. More exercise than i am used to leads to an aching body.

Cause and effect is also at work in our minds. Negative thoughts give rise to more negative thoughts. Kindness gives rise to kindness. Plant a radish, get a radish, not a Brussels sprout.

Karma is another word for this chain of cause-and-effect. Our actions--physical, mental, or verbal--lay down the patterns for our future. As the neuroscientists say, neurons that fire together, wire together.

What would you like to harvest? Craving, irritation, or kindness?