The Anxiety Collection

The Blue Flower

Through the summer I read a few books while trying to take some time to relax and let my back rest. One book really captivated me and it was The Blue Flower by Henry Van Dyke. There was a bit of a religious overtone but if you’re cool with that then I would highly recommend. In the very beginning there is a line that eludes to the theme of the book and it reads:

“‘The Blue Flower’… I have used here to signify happiness, the satisfaction of the heart… Reader, will you take this book and see if it belongs to you? Whether it does or not, my wish is that the Blue Flower grows in the garden where you work”

I took a lot of walks as well and the thing that seemed to draw me in the most was a blue flower tree.

I walked past this tree every day for the majority of the summer and as the summer came to an end and I watched its flowers slowly wilt and fall away I remember looking back at it and thinking that it would likely be the last time I saw it as I had all summer; so bright and beautiful and the sight I had walked all summer to sit with for a few moments and smile. 

The very next time I came to the tree all the flowers were gone and the bush stood like all the other bare bushes alongside it, but I knew that it wasn’t a normal flower tree. It was The Blue Flower through the summer, or at least it was the Blue Flower for me.

This is the only piece in the collection that isn’t for sale but I wanted to include it because those flowers were so important to me in the time that I got to watch them flourish that I wanted to honour them for helping me through my anxiety these past few months.

I keep going on walks but I haven’t come across a flower bush that I have seen such beauty from than the blue flowers I saw this summer. But there is also something really special about not knowing where the next flower that I want to sit with and smile is growing. 

I’ll keep walking and smiling with all the flowers but I’ll never forget my time with the blue flowers.