A strong foundation
I still remember drawing this flower from a photo while visiting an Andy Goldsworthy’s sculpture on the Stanford campus near the Cantor Art Museum. It was a warm, dry day and I was sitting under an oak tree with hummingbirds hovering over my head. As idyllic as it sounds, it actually was very uncomfortable - I was sitting on the ground without a blanket and the oak leaves felt like thorns beneath me, the air was dusty and the hummingbirds seemed to be hard at work and slightly annoyed by my presence.
AND, I was having a lot of trouble drawing these flowers - if you look closely at the original pencil on paper drawing, you will see lots of eraser marks left behind. The whole time I was drawing, I had these thoughts of doubt in my head as the birds were buzzing around me:
“How can drawing still be so hard to do? Does it take this much effort for other artists to make their art? Maybe I’m not really meant to do this.”
And yet I forged on and in the deep stillness of drawing, these violets eventually emerged. The way the leaves of the flower seem to “cover” themselves up with their ‘heads’ slightly bowing towards us, felt almost like a human expression of modesty and humility. So I wrote in the word humility because really, the whole experience of this drawing to me felt very humbling.
The thorny dried leaves on the ground and territorial hummingbirds reminded me how humbled I am to be alive and part of this miraculous yet also harsh world. And I was so humbled by the experience of not being able to draw something I was trying so hard to draw.
Every now and then, I think it is healthy to be reminded of how small we are in the grand scheme of things. I think we can get caught up in our own minds and worlds that can make us overly egotistical or ego-centric. In some ways, I feel like humility is a powerful tool because when we truly understand our ‘smallness’, I think we also in some ways make space for us to become VERY BIG in a different, non-egotistical way. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like a feeling where when we realize we are all equally small, we all also become infinitely big.
TAKE A DEEP DIVE INTO THE THEME
EPISODE 37 - SEASON 1
The root word in Latin for humility is humus, which means soil or ground. Humility is about creating a healthy foundation.
Violet flowers symbolize delicate love, affection, modesty, faith, nobility, intuition and dignity. One quirk of some Violets is the elusive scent of their flowers; along with terpenes, a major component of the scent is a ketone compound called ionone, which temporarily desensitizes the receptors of the nose. It’s almost like a way to cleanse the palate.
EPISODE 41 - SEASON 2
In this episode, we talk to Ain Bailey, the founder of New Seneca Village. Ain shares how nature is her first community and how important it is to be in relationship to land for land's sake. She feels the unwavering presence of nature, from the big sky to trees, and how they make her feel seen and known.
We delve into her recent big move from the San Francisco Bay Area of California to rural Alabama and how she feeds and is fed by nature.
EPISODE 64 - SEASON 3
With each passing story and shared experience, we unearth the profound influence of humility on our journey, mirroring the unassuming strength of Yosemite's ancient sequoias and the steadfast violet. This episode is a tapestry woven with threads of gratitude, intentionality, and the practice of 'Wu Wei'—effortless action that trusts life's currents.
Join us for an exploration of how to stand strong yet supple amidst life's ebb and flow, and welcome the new with grace and poise.
Humility is one of the 39 Gratitude Blooming themes that we explore to help our community keep gratitude front of mind.
Explore all themes
