Looking at the mullygrubs

I have a long standing habit of analysis. I'm sure that the roots are fairly far back in my childhood, but they have been fed and watered by both work and personal habits of many years. AD says that I'm part spider. I pick up pieces that don't seem to be related and then build the web between them. I'm a pattern weaver. I see analogies everywhere.

When I'm tired, stressed, overextended or (my personal favorite) all three, I forget that this point of view is very useful. My perspective gets colored by negative emotions or I start to focus on the darker parts of the picture. In the shadows, life can get fairly confusing for me. I tend to lose my center. Fortunately, something always triggers my pattern weaving brain and then the light comes on again. In this case, very literally.

HTH (the T is for thoughtful this time) came home with this plant this weekend. He told me that the flowers were called mullygrubs. Since they neglected to label the plant at the store, he figured that he could call them whatever he wanted, so mullygrubs they shall remain. The plant is lovely and, fortunately, low maintenance. I put it on the kitchen table until late Sunday afternoon when the sun shining through a window completely illuminated them.

As I was taking pictures it occurred to me, once again, that life really is a matter of perspective and focus. In the top picture, the mullygrubs fill the screen and almost completely block out the light. It is hard to even see the flowers. In this one just above, the focus is on the long shadow. The plant and the flowers are secondary. As I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear, I have been looking at my work life in this way for most of the last month.

I've allowed my self imposed stress and emotional responses to distract me from the small beauties of what is there. So, just as I did with the camera here, I'm trying to walk around to the other side and see what I can find. There are a lot of little flowers and the potential for even more. The sunlight puts a nice, fuzzy glow on everything. When I'm focusing properly, I see life and light. After all, it is MY world view. It really is all in my head. I cannot control the circumstances at work, but I can choose how I see them.

Taking a step back even further, the big picture is also quite pretty. This little plant is growing so well that it almost needs a new pot. With the bright, glossy leaves, it will still be inviting even when the flowers are gone. Yes, there are still shadows and there really isn't as much light as I would like, but there is a lot of healthy green and beautiful color. This job - OK, every job - is much the same way.

I can't be sure how this plant will fare in the coming weeks. Some of its health will be impacted by where it came from and how well it traveled before it came into my kitchen. I may not remember to water it properly. I may work my way around to the dark side again (yes, AD, you can add a Star Wars comment here) before I realize what I've done. Posting this is, in part, a way to remind myself of those things.

But, thanks to HTH and a few little flowers, I'm working on my perspective again. He was certainly right about one thing: if I have to have mullygrubs, the best ones to have are the kind that are pretty enough to get me right out of them!