Public Spark

My parents, along with some of our family friends are avid orchid enthusiasts. After watching their beautiful orchids grow each year, I became more and more interested. Last year, I attended the Orchid Show in Santa Barbara, which displayed a myriad of unique orchid species. There was one that stood out called Oncidium Sharry Baby that actually smelled like chocolate. I also fell in love with the cattaleya’s and bought a few to raise on my own. It is exciting to see them grow and I am looking forward to the flowers blossoming. It is amazing what growing an orchid can teach you. These are a few things that I have learned:

• Enjoy the little pleasures of life

  When raising orchids, you don’t see a change that occurs every day. I used to think watching my dad, “how can you put so much effort into a flower that only grows for a month and then returns to being a plant?” Then as I began to grow my own, I realized that it’s the process that he is enjoying. When you see a new leaf growing, a new bulb, it brings great joy. It makes those days when a leaf dies, not so bad because you know it’s a process of making mistakes, learning, and finding new discoveries. Just as the best part of life is not the end success, but the process of achieving success.

• To adapt to change

  Orchids exhibit extreme resilience. If they receive less water than they require, they don’t die immediately, but create bulbs to store and conserve water. They also do not flower. Adapting to change is an important aspect in life and you even see it in businesses like McDonald’s. At one point, their business was declining due to the change in the food business market shifting towards healthy foods. Instead of going against the new healthy foods trend, McDonald’s adapted by offering more healthy options as an alternative. Their business is once again thriving. Even McDonald’s got my mom’s business, who used to hate McDonald’s.

• Nurturing can lead to pleasant surprises

  When an orchid is nurtured through regular care and contact, there is a tremendous difference that can be seen. Although they may not be as sophisticated as humans, they are still another living thing. A non-nurtured orchid often has small bent flowers and weak stems. On the contrary, a nurtured orchid is absolutely gorgeous with large flowers, a straight strong stem, and vivid coloration. Such a primitive species can show the importance of nurturing, that may be harder to see in humans. Although we are much more complex, the underlying theme is the same. Those who nurture themselves as well as relationships with others flourish not only in relationships but also in life.