Some Cheer
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“Well hello there!
If you’re not familiar with my work, Welcome.”
Someone, or maybe even you, asked me to send a note of cheer. What’s more cheerful than a redbud, crocus, tulip, hyacinth, daffodil, or azalea after an alabaster winter? (If you’re in more lush environs — lucky you!)
The illustration I sent you is the first drawing in what has become an illustrated children’s series about a time-traveling, nature-obsessed girl called Contessa. She arrived like a friend in my life after I moved to Vietnam as a way for me to express my feelings and the things I missed in such a drastically different culture. Contessa is holding flowers because aside from living on Flower Street, flowers were everywhere in Vietnam, and they provided a bridge to my life in the West. Flowers kind of saved me.
Flowers have saved other people too. When asked about the origins of her flower work — those monumental portraits both in scale and influence — Georgia O’Keefe said that they were a response to the 1920s, “when everything was going so fast. Nobody had the time to reflect.”
I think we can all agree that until the coronavirus, everything was going “so fast.” For me, life began to slow down a bit in January when I arrived from Shanghai on a holiday break from medical school. Two weeks later, it slowed, even more, when Delta canceled my flight back home to China. Then life came to a final jarring halt in March when China closed its border indefinitely. Fast was no longer an option for me, for anyone.
Of these times, I’ve heard they are trying, challenging, uncertain, strange. Or at least that’s what the headlines and advertisers tell us. I’d like to add another one we’ve been needing for a while - reflective.
If you work on the frontline, are part of an essential business, or have a brood at home, it’s harder to find the time to reflect. Unique among humans, self-reflection and resiliency are intertwined. Studies show that the ability to self-reflect affects our ability to grow, particular in times of stress like, well, a pandemic.
Where reflection requires time, it doesn’t require big gestures. There’s no need for long mediations or glamorous retreats. Like Georgia O’Keefe discovered, reflection can begin with the little things. A sunset. Moving clouds. And not least among them, a bloom.
I’d like to thank you for being present in all of this. To the nurses, doctors, teachers, parents, grocery store, priests, pharmacy workers, police and other essential workers: THANK YOU! I see you.
If you’d like to receive more cheer digitally, subscribe to my mailing list. Or, if you love slow mail, check out more of my Postale series. I’m grateful to share some beauty with you. And I hope today, you’ll find a bloom that inspires reflection in you. — MW
Coucou Home is a place to feel refreshed, find heart sustenance, and heal your spirit. For this reason, it will always be ad-free. If you enjoy my work and value creativity in the world, please consider becoming a patron by making a donation in any amount or buying my work. Your support is greatly appreciated! Thank you!