Wish Flower Or Weed?

One day my husband and I were walking along a riverbank when I looked over and saw an awesome Wish Flower. I used to see them all the time when I was a little girl living in Puyallup, Washington. They were all over our backyard and as kids we would go out and pick the ones with the biggest ball of fluffy white petals and we would hold them up, close our eyes and make a wish, and then open our eyes and blow on the wish flower to make all the fluffy petal come off and blow away. Then we would run off smiling because we were certain our wish would someday come true.

I loved wish flowers because I grew up believing they were magic! So when I saw a great big fluffy one by the riverbank I excitedly said to my husband, “Grab me that wish flower honey, so I can make a wish!” My husband looked down confused at what I was referring to and instead picked a yellow flower near the one I wanted and handed it to me. I was confused. I thought everyone knew what a wish flower was. I said, “No that’s not the wish flower – its that one” pointing to the white fluffy flower still standing on its stem. My husband said, “Are you talking about that weed?!  That’s a dandelion, not a wish flower. It’s a weed!”

I was shocked…I had never heard of someone referring to the magical wish flower as a weed before? How could anyone possibly think it was a nasty weed? Didn’t he realize that when you blow on it your wish can come true?!

As we walked away I said to him, “Well…to you it’s a weed, but to me it’s a wish.” 🙂

We can live our lives in one of two ways…we can see a field of wishes or a field of weeds. I frankly prefer to see the field of wishes…and in my experience all those wishes I made as a little girl with my wish flowers eventually came true!  But maybe part of the reason they came true is because I actually believed in the magic of those wish flowers and I believed that my wishes would someday come true.  Perhaps if I had seen those flowers as nothing more than weeds my life wishes wouldn’t have ended up coming true at all.

I happen to believe we play a major role in having our wishes come true by believing that they can. So the next time you see one of those white fluffy dandelions you might want to consider picking it up, closing your eyes and making a wish, then open your eyes and blow those fluffy white petals into the wind. Then run away smiling and believing that your wishes will certainly come true.

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )

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