Why Smelling Flowers (and Listening to Ocean Vuong) Might Be Exactly What You Need Today

This one is for anyone who needs to pause today and be reminded to smell the flowers.

I just listened to this podcast called Mothers & Sons with Ocean Vuong.

I did not know about him before listening, and now I have all of his books in my cart on Audible. He is an empathetic, intelligent, artistic human who speaks eloquently and shines a light for others to recognize the darkness we’ve normalized in this world. Do yourself a favor and listen to this episode; it is beautiful.

There are too many things that touched my heart while listening, so I won’t do a disservice and try to summarize it. I will, however, share one moment that opened a creative spark in me, and it’s when they were talking about forgiving the pain and abuse that someone carries that gets passed down. He said he asks himself,

“Where does the pain come from?”

This made me feel an opening in my chest when thinking about my stepmother. It’s something I sat down to write about today, but I can’t find the words. Instead, I’m going to write about being a writer.

I’ve been feeling some kind of way about writing lately, wondering if it’s worth my time, if anything I write will get read, questioning if I’m good enough to be in the world of writers. When I listened to Ocean Vuong speak, it reminded me I write because I enjoy the act of sitting in silence and communicating with this unseen force of creativity.

I love that where there was once nothing, there are words that tell a story and transport myself and the reader somewhere else.

I love writing because even though I am writing about my experience, I am also trying to write about the human experience, and to connect with people walking through this world and wondering

what is this all for,

what are we doing here?

Today I took a moment and smelled these flowers on my table. These gorgeous flowers my husband bought for me, and I thought of posting something on social media that said, “Find yourself a lover who buys you flowers to show you how much he values you.” Because the men I dated before only bought me flowers as an apology.

Then I thought of anyone without a partner who might feel some kind of negative way about me saying that and I decided against it. Here, however, I can share the wholeness of this thought and that moment, and I can ask you,

When is the last time you stuck your nose inside of a soft flower, felt the silky petals on your skin, and inhaled the fragrance?

I have now done this 6 times today, and each time it brings a smile to my face. I also have to sneeze.

Hatttcheewww

Okay, so there you have it for today.

Go stick your nose in some flowers, smell them, take in their stunning colors, and listen to Ocean Vuong if you’re in the mood to listen to an artist bring light to often unseen darkness.

Love Always,

Danielle Mallett