Every time I see a photo of Downy Avens (also known as Prairie Smoke), my heart leaps up! It is such a cool plant. The flowers start as tight red bud-like beings that hang down and point to the ground. But then they stand up straight and unfurl as a whirl of glistening pink filaments that eventually reach up towards the sky except when they are blown about by the wind. There’s a photo of one in my Etsy listing for the flower essence.
But I’m also disturbed by my reaction to Downy Avens because I know that when I respond extremely strongly to a flower, it’s usually one I need . . . and this flower essence is often used in a clinical practice for people who have autism or attention deficit disorder. That’s not me . . . or is it? Last week I started reading a book by Temple Grandin called “Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions” and even though I definitely did not relate to her description of what it is like to be autistic, I saw myself in the pages because I tend to be a very visual thinker. Not all visual thinkers are autistic—we’re usually artistic! (This is a funnier joke if you know I have a Boston accent and pronounce both of these words almost the same.) But it is thought that autistic people may typically be visual thinkers, too.
One of the challenges of people on the spectrum and of visual thinkers in general is being so caught up in the world of their own imagination and creativity that their emotional development lags behind. In some people (especially those with Aspergers Syndrome) there can be a real disconnect between intellect and heart and great difficulty in relating to other people. (A significant problem for others if someone like that winds up in a position of authority.) In other people, a profound sensitivity can lead to overwhelm in social situations—too much stimulation! It’s calming to narrow your focus to specific things (like art making) and lose track of time doing that to your heart’s content. That seems good /great at the time but it doesn’t help at all with getting better with social situations. Downy Avens is often a great help in helping engage the heart and slowly create more balance between heart and head.
Another situation it can be used for is the one I’ve been struggling with lately at my job. I get to bring my creative self to work more often than I used to—thankfully— but I still have to force myself to focus on dry spiritually bereft scientific writing way too often as well as many other tasks I find tedious and boring. But I learned something recently. If I am able to engage on the heart level with a co-worker who has asked me to do something, I don’t struggle so much at all. It helps so much to know I am being helpful to that person instead of going through the same exercise and getting NO feedback at all. That happens more often that you might think because I work at home and am out of sight and, therefore, out of mind for my co-workers when they are busy and disengaged themselves! I’ll have to figure out how to try to shift that, but in the meantime I think Downy Avens flower essence has been calling my name because engaging on the heart level is something I could choose to do anyway!
It’s the key to the whole thing really. And perhaps one of the conversations we need to be having on a greater societal level as well these days.
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Flower essences are used to assist with mind-body-spirit interactions and individual results may vary. They are extremely dilute which makes them quite safe. But because so little physical substance can be detected in a flower essence solution, these products are presumed to work on an energetic or vibrational level—something that cannot be adequately tested by western scientific methods. Claims made by me, therefore, are based on personal experiences and the evidence of the combined multiple decades of case notes by Dr. Edward Bach as well as Healing Herbs and Flower Essence Services (the companies who make the ingredients I use in my products). This is not, however, accepted medical evidence or substantiated scientific evidence from a modern allopathic point of view. I am not a medical doctor or licensed healthcare practitioner.
Statements made have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The information provided on my blog, websites or by this company are not a substitute for a face-to-face consultation with a health care provider, and should not be construed as individual medical or mental health advice. Consulting with a health care provider is a must for anyone taking medications or working with a medical or mental health condition, and highly recommended before using any herbal product. Please consult your doctor or health care provider for any possible contraindications and/or interactions with current medications. I trust you to seek the medical guidance you need to use any of my herbal products healthily at your own risk.