Want to live a happier Lowcountry life? Get yourself an African violet and follow its lead

When was the last time you caught yourself talking to a plant?

Don’t be bashful, ‘fess up! Contrition is good for the soul. I recently had a momentary conversation with the lone African violet I purchased from the Bi-Lo supermarket in Bluffton when it closed its doors for business.

While I’m not usually an African violet person, it caught my eye in the floral department with its vibrant, green, fuzzy leaves topped with a cluster of royal purple blooms. Needing a little color on an end table, I brought my prized purchase home and placed it under a lamp in the TV room. It looked really perky and cozy in its new home and supplied a welcoming burst of color when entering the room.

The perkiness lasted about three weeks before the blooms withered and died.

Being a faithful gardener, I kept watering it from the bottom when needed and watched patiently for more blooms. Alas, as green and healthy as it looked, it just wouldn’t bloom again.

Then a light bulb went off in my head and I remembered that Mama always had beautiful African violets on a long shelf under the windows of the entrance room off from the kitchen. She said she placed them there because they needed the light facing the north. Aha, so that was my problem!

I immediately made room on my plant shelf under my kitchen window facing north and viola, would you believe that within a week the little rascal was jam full of blooms and is still blooming as I write.

This transformation set the cogs turning in my mind wondering if the environment people live in makes them happy and productive. Turns out we do need to be comfortable in our environment, which Webster’s Dictionary describes as “the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded.” In other words our surroundings definitely affect our moods and performances.

In daily living or any given situation, there are things we can’t control. We can’t control the weather or the people around us, but we can control ourselves, so we have to control what we can and accept what we can’t.

That brings into perspective one of Reinhold Niebuhr’s famous quotes known as the Serenity Prayer. Niebuhr, born in 1892, was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. He also receivedthe Presidential Medal of Freedom before his death in 1971.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

If we spend most of our time in our living and working environments of our home, shouldn’t we make them work for us? Being comfortable in our home is a must. If it takes a little sprucing up, go for it. Make your home say your name when you walk in with your favorite colors of paint on the walls, lighting that makes you feel cozy, personal wall décor and green plants that shouts life.

Happiness is what we make it within ourselves.

An inspirational example is a friend who had a sudden debilitating disability that made her dependent on a wheelchair. But she didn’t let this get her down.

With her inner strength, prayer and God as her co-pilot, she became a productive seamstress. Sewing is something she loved to do so she busied herself sewing items a local nursing home could use and volunteered volumes of work with her craftsmanship.

She accepted her handicap — which she could not change — and created happiness within herself — which she could change.

A lesson for all of us is “if we can’t see the bright side of life, maybe we ought to polish the dull side.”

Be happy!