reinvention

Fighting Philodendron

June 24, 2024 By Arminda

We are a plant-loving family, having inherited something of a green thumb from my dad and his dad before him. During her years in Boston, my daughter acquired a variety of green companions and lovingly cared for, coaxed, and grew them into the healthiest versions of themselves. It was not uncommon for our video calls to start or end with the camera facing and zooming in on her windowsill and shelves housing her growing obsession.

Following a medical emergency, we needed to move her out of Boston and home to Birmingham for a brief period of time. Because we don’t plan or schedule the routine crises that scatter themselves along our life path, that move happened when it happened — in the middle of February as soon as the roads had cleared after Boston’s crazy bomb cyclone of 2022. I packed everything I could fit into the backseat and trunk of my car, leaving just enough space for the two of us in the front seats pulled all the way forward.

That space on the floor directly behind the passenger seat was where we put the philodendron, and the floor behind the driver’s seat was where we secured the monstera, the only two plants able to come home with us. The plants’ containers were both large enough that their girth alone secured them in place, but I wanted to keep them warm so wrapped winter coats around their bases and crossed my fingers for the many days’ journey ahead of them. The car was so tightly-packed I could not access or remove them during our drive.

Much to our dismay, the philodendron did not survive the journey. While it had thrived and grown into quite a formidable display of gorgeous variegation in its Boston windowsill, four days in subzero temperatures were more than it could handle. It was almost more than I could handle, so I get it. Conversely, the monstera, ensconced behind the driver’s seat fared much better and is bigger and better than ever today, happily growing in its place of honor on our back porch.

Not one to be deterred by a frozen philodendron, my daughter carefully dug down and discovered a section of root still living in a small patch of warm dirt. After excavating that root, she placed it in what looks like a test tube filled with water and attached it to the fridge with a magnet. Through the window above our kitchen sink the now-propagating philodendron was supplied with sufficient natural light throughout the day. And the root grew new roots.

What a marvelous thing to witness: regrowth.

Four months later, that root had pushed three bright green leaves out its top, and an intricate network of roots down below. We gently transferred it again, this time into a tiny pot filled with nutrient-rich dirt. And I carried that tiny little pot with me everywhere I went, including on vacation. I was not leaving it unattended under any circumstances. This philodendron was a fighter and in my heart had come to represent my daughter’s own fight for her life, her own regeneration in a Boston hospital six months prior.

When that philodendron moved with my daughter to New York City I wept leaving them both behind as I drove the long road back to Birmingham alone in an empty car. And when, a year later, my daughter brought it back to me to tend and care for for always, I cried again. That fighting philodendron is never far from my sight and is always in my heart. “We’re so proud of it!” my daughter texted me this morning when I mentioned it was to be the theme of today’s article.

I am proud of that plant. I am proud of my daughter. I am proud of myself. And I am proud of the fighter in every single one of you. Let this story of a fighting philodendron remind you that routine “crises” are a natural part of life’s path. And always those happen in the most inopportune times and seasons. We might feel frozen and unable to move, but if you do some gentle excavating, you will discover a warm patch of dirt in which you’re still beating. Hydrate, get plenty of sunshine, and grow yourself in a new pot of possibility.

Sometimes it takes being witnessed before you can see yourself reimagined. Let me know if you’d like to schedule time with me so I can help you see how green and growing you are.

The Truth About Reinvention

January 4, 2016 By Arminda

I work from home and currently my office is being renovated. New flooring, new wall colors, new shelves, new desk. Overhauling the lot of it.

Exiting my bedroom requires a careful navigation past the pink bins that up until now have been in my office, neatly holding all my stuff. A quick glance down the hall reveals the painter’s ladder in my recently-vacated space and stacks (and stacks) of books plus two empty bookshelves greet me as I descend the stairs.

As giddy with excitement as I am for my new space to be completed, I also know it’s going to take a little while for me to really be IN the new space because I’ve got to sort through all the bins, which harbor all the papers, and the pictures, and the pens whose ink dried up long ago, and the files, and the business cards and the who knows what else is hiding in there for me to discover.

And this, my friend, is what reinvention really looks like.

Steve Chandler’s book, Reinventing Yourself is such a personal favorite I have purchased hundreds of copies (see “stacks and stacks of books” above)! As a coach I use this term and extend the invitation to reinvent constantly — for myself and for my clients.

Reinvention, while highly recommended, is not easy work. And it’s certainly not done overnight.

The reinvention of my office space has taken me a year to conceptualize, plan for, hire the right help, rework the original vision, pay for, acquire the right materials, ask for physical support from friends and family (those bookshelves don’t move themselves), and finally to oversee its implementation.

And in the midst of all that, I’m negotiating pretty pink bins and their contents.

Life and its reinventions look exactly like this!

We first have to see the possibility in ourselves to reinvent. Once you’ve taken that step, you’ll catch a vision of what wants to be created within you. You’ll want to hire the right help and pay for your support (hire a coach, read an impactful and inspiring book, take a class, create a sticker chart to track your growth). And as you’re implementing the changes, you’ll navigate bins of stuff that you forgot about because it’s been so neatly contained on that top shelf, out of sight until now.

Don’t put it back on the shelf.

Sort through it.

Resolve it.

Shred it if it’s no longer useful to you.

And then recycle that shredded history in service to someone else.

Once it’s complete, that new office space will be a reflection of the love I bring to it because I loved myself through every step of the process and didn’t cut any corners or retain anything that no longer serves me.

Tidying up and reinventing ourselves is a process, not a procedure.

Reinvention begins at the level of thought. Don’t let your thoughts think you. Build a life, don’t try to make a living. Reinvent yourself from someone to whom things happen, to someone who builds. — Steve Chandler

Props & Costumes

November 2, 2015 By Arminda

I well remember our childhood toy chest, hand-crafted by my Uncle Tom, large enough to hold three to four small children, along with (but not comfortably) some metal Tonka trucks and the Fisher Price Little People, their house and their barn.

Buried inside that big box (in addition to a generation of toys) were an assortment of hats, dresses, shoes, jewelry, purses, briefcases, and general bedlam: the perfect combination for any child’s imagination to soar.

We never needed to wait for Halloween to reinvent ourselves; we only needed a few props from the toy box plus our very active minds to create and recreate and create again who we would become on any given day.

And wow — the feeling of being someone else is magical — I can still easily connect with that emotion from my younger years!

While Halloween may be the perfect excuse to play dress up and to “make believe” and to transform ourselves into whoever and whatever we want, it’s not necessary.

Today, right now, just do it.

With a few props you already have at home and the raging imagination that’s lain dormant for too long inside of you, you have everything you need to become whatever you want! Try someone else on for a day or for an hour or for an afternoon.

Your big proposal to that potential new client who doesn’t know you? Wear a power suit or a brightly-colored tie you borrow from a friend whose presentation skills you admire.

Need to conduct a performance review and you’re nervous about saying the right thing? Practice using some words and phrases you wouldn’t “normally” say but your favorite tv personality would.

Not the type to rush in and “save the moment”? What if you were wearing a cape? Imagine you are and step into your greatness. Better yet — buy yourself some adult superhero underwear and WEAR THEM. No one but you will know and just like Clark Kent you’re suddenly walking around with superpowers.

Who’s your hero? Your better version of yourself? The person you wish you could be?

What props are buried at the bottom of your toy chest? Dig them out, shake them off and try them on for a little while.

When you believe you can’t, simply pretend to be the person who would and then do.

Easy.

Charlotte’s Web

September 14, 2015 By Arminda

Meet Charlotte.

She lives in my herb garden. Directly behind Charlotte to your left is my mint and to your right, the rosemary. Charlotte cares nothing for my herbs. She’s much more interested in the garden fence between which she constructed her large web. A common yellow garden spider (Argiope aurantia), Charlotte is completely harmless to humans and unrelenting in her efforts to live fully each day.

I check in on her every morning. I have a chat with her, acknowledge her latest catches, express astonishment at her ingenuity, speed and cleaning of her dinner plate.

Notice that fancy vertical zig zag running through the center of Charlotte’s web? Every single night before she sleeps, Charlotte eats that center zig zag portion of her web and weaves a new zig zag center, strong and reinforced, ready for her next day’s unknown adventures.

Charlotte believes in the power of reinvention.

She isn’t wasting any of her precious time missing yesterday’s web.

She chooses daily to come from an even stronger core.

She is ferocious in protecting her center and is relentless in her efforts to make it better.

The center of Charlotte’s web is her epicenter for growth.

Charlotte is remarkable.

She’s not messing around. She’s living out loud.

Need me to weave the metaphor for you into the web?

Nah. You’ve got this.

Channel your inner remarkable.

Station 76

April 27, 2015 By Arminda

Raise your hand if you wanted to be a fireman when you were little. What about a policeman, or the mail carrier, or a nurse, or Superman, or (for me) Wonder Woman?

They were all equal in your eyes: Heroes.

During playtime at Miss Libby’s we were a yard full of gleeful four-year-olds, whose powers knew no bounds. I learned I could fly on those swings and simply added it to my bag of options. Nothing kept us down, or back, or out, or sitting. Nothing was impossible. That concept didn’t exist.

Need an artist? A playwright? A poet? A dancer? A juggler? A magician? A writer?

You used to be all of the above.

And then life must have gotten very serious.

When is the last time you believed you had superhuman powers? When was the last time you imagined yourself flying? Or painting? Or saving the day?

What if the only thing that’s changed from Miss Libby’s preschool playground to now is your thinking?

What if that superhero, who was your alter ego at age four, is still just a bat signal away?

What if you summon her today?

What powers does she possess that you don’t?

What if you — like Clark Kent — in moments when the situation seems impossible, strip off your tie and toss your glasses aside and reveal the hero in you?

What color is your cape?