Meditating with a Dandelion

I thought I'd share 10 minutes I spent in the garden this morning: A few minutes to forget busy thoughts and wonder at something beautiful. A famous psychologist, Milton Erickson once asked one of his patients to sit on a lawn until he made a fantastic discovery...

An hour and a half later he rushed back and said:
'Do you realise that every blade of grass is a different shade of green'
This story always struck me as an example of how we can lose track of time noticing the small things in life, a state that some try to achieve through meditation, others through fishing, knitting, stamp collecting...

The following poem describes how 10 minutes in the sunshine helped me achieve relaxation, and brightened the rest of my day.

Meditating with a Dandelion

I sat beside a dandelion in the shade,
(I'd missed it earlier with my spade)
And wondered how it had been made.
Why less popular than a rose,
And feared by those with patios?
I stared into a yellow centre,
To see the work of its creator,
Learnt how long and wide each strand,
Turned it gently in my hand,
And noticed how each stem bears,
Lots of tiny white hairs.
An elder sister looked rather odd,
A tightly packed green pod.
Her hair was a tuft of white,
Dreaming of future flight.

I picked up a nearby ball of seeds,
A wonder from this queen of weeds,
And plucked a single speck of brown,
To stare closely at its dainty crown,
Until it floated off into the air,
Lighter than a single hair.

I blew the rest towards the sun,
(Why let nature have all the fun?)
And watched them settle here and there,
You'd like it too if you'd dare.
Ten minutes of time well spent,
Has left me feeling quite content.
While seeds fly off to germinate,
I've learnt a way to meditate.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/meditating-with-a-dandelion/

Notes about cartoon:
Some culinary uses of dandelions are on the blanket in the background: dandelion wine, dandelion leaf salad and dandelion fritters.