New book helps kids (and adults) to appreciate the good in our lives

We Are All Flowersexplores the practice of ‘flower watering’: the art of recognising and appreciating the good in our lives

Tue, 09 Aug, 2022 - 02:00

Helen O’Callaghan

Author, mindfulness educator and poet Orlaith O’Sullivan hopes children will read her beautifully-illustrated picture book, We Are All Flowers, to help them re-remember their own goodness and to notice the goodness already in their lives.

The book — aimed at four to eight-year-olds, though it could be enjoyed by all ages — poetically explores the practice of ‘flower watering’: the art of recognising and appreciating the good in our lives.

This core mindfulness practice was taught by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, dubbed ‘father of mindfulness’ by TIME magazine.

As humans, we naturally note problems more than we notice wonderful moments, says O’Sullivan. “We evolved to have a negativity bias.”

The concept of flower watering counters this. “It helps us explore where our love naturally goes — the people we really appreciate, the animals, the planet. It asks us to become very specific — can I pick one characteristic of my mum, my cat — to show us all the ways we’re supported in our lives.”

While we might have a general sense of what our friend/parent/pet brings to our life, if we know what this individual specifically brings — for example, this friend makes me laugh — we have a less distorted view of our lives, says O’Sullivan.

“We have much more clarity on the human and animal relationships that give us so much every day.”

When she began writing the book, it took the form of poetry. “Children naturally delight in words, sounds, rhythm. It’s sometimes taught out of us — the joy of poetry.”

We Are All Flowers highlights that our most important relationship is with ourselves: ‘There are goggles of gloominess we sometimes wear/and we feel a bit rubbish and it feels hard to care/this is just when we muster our kindness and strength/to help us restore to a better wavelength.’

“Sooner or later, we tend to turn on ourselves in moments of great meanness and guilt, where we stop being our friend. At these moments, flower watering helps us re-remember all the good we do, from everyday simple actions to superhero moments where we help someone in our life,” says O’Sullivan.

Currently, the international coordinator of Wake Up Schools, which seeks to support mindfulness in education, O’Sullivan says children are naturally mindful. “They’re very based in the present moment. They often have a sense of being happy or sad in their body.

“Practising gratitude, a sense of safety and connection, wonder and love, all strengthen our heart, helping it to metabolise worry, anger and shame. They can get stuck in us very easily — mindfulness helps us take care of that.”