You can only love what you appreciate

Join me today as I walk you through our gardens with my flower photography, and share on the importance of our human creativity and staying true to ourselves, the spiritual truth that we can only love what we appreciate, and the sweet nectar known as Soma. In a fast paced world of constant need for instant gratification, it is important to remember the love that moves our human heart and human hands.  

This is one of my photographs, named Devotion, that I offer in my Flower Shop. I love our flowers, and I am forever and eternally in love with roses. Always have been since I was a little girl. One of my main inspirations to offer my flower photography to others is because I wanted to of course share their beauty with others, but also to inspire others to take notice and witness all the beauty that surrounds them in their most ordinary every day paths.

I only use my phone to take the photographs, not a camera, and whenever they reveal themselves and I feel it in the moment, there they are. That’s another reason: I wanted to inspire others too to just enjoy nature and whatever gives them pleasure and joy, without worrying that it needs to be perfect. There is something deeply special about the unedited and real, especially in our modern world. Beauty awaits us to reveal itself, and on your paths of life, love and beauty await to be experienced by you in whatever shape or form you are able to receive them.

I once visited a bee farm. While I was there learning about the bees, I was given to hold tiny little honey stick, perhaps a centimeter in height; it was basically 0.8 grams, and I learned that what I was actually holding, in this 0.8 grams, equivalent to one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey, is all the honey a single bee produces in its entire life.

One-twelfth of a teaspoon is the result of a bee’s entire lifespan of work, which can involve visiting millions of flowers over several weeks. So there I was, holding the life of a bee. One full honey stick, the one that is sold in most bee farms, is the life work of twelve bees. I still have the honey stick at home, keeping it preciously as humble reminder of the labour of love and work things take.

So here I am today, thinking of the honey we hold, honey we make, and the honey of others we hold in our hands. Do we even realize how precious it all is and how we must fight to keep it pure and alive.

The bride offers herself
by Lubomira Kourteva, The Flower Shop

I know we live in a world where so much is no longer done by human hands, or love and caring, but my god I love it when it is. I’ve always loved doing it all myself, creating with my hands, and perhaps that’s why I appreciate it in others also still. I love when someone makes a dress, writes essays and poetry, cooks a meal, makes a doll house by gluing wooden pieces, writes hand written love letters – and just creates something with their own hands, own heart, own mind, this is what makes things beautiful and living.

I think also in our modern world we’ve kind of forgotten how to appreciate, because everything has become almost replaceable or just not loved. How can something be loved if we don’t love it? And how can we love it if we don’t appreciate it and spend time with it and cherish it?

How many times do we actually realize the amount of labour and love that goes into something? Behind the scenes so much happens to make something come to life, creatively and physically. It takes hands, heart, effort, commitment, and a lot of time and belief. It may take you hours to prepare and cook a meal, which you may then eat in one tenth of the time. It may take you weeks or months or even years of work to set up your business, to write book, a poem even or a song.

For example, for me personally, It takes me hours to write and publish a single blog post on my website. For my essays, it takes me days; and for some of them it took me weeks. It takes me love and care and deep devotion to do your readings, and it’s taken me years, many years, to have the knowledge and wisdom that I may now be able to offer people.

This is about everything in our life – everything has taken so much to come together for us to enjoy. What about the dress you wear? It’s taken hands, dreams, hours of labour, for all threads to hold other threads, for everything to come together and shape for you. It all begins with a dream, vision, inspiration, but then so much more has to be made to make something physical.

Surely, nowadays a lot of things are made with technology or in mainstream ways in factories and mass production – but you know when something is made by hand, with love. You know what it feels like. It feels special. It’s special because it was personally made.

We can only love what we appreciate, and what we may choose to emotionally and truly invest into. Your plush toy as a child was loved by you because you spend time with it, played with it, appreciated it. The Little Prince loved his rose, because while she looked like many other roses, nothing ever compared to her – because she was his, he took care of her, and this is why she became special to him. Devotion is the veil through which awareness shows its beautiful face.

One of my clients is an artist and photographer, and he came to me feeling so hopeless about our world. He was so sad and had lost his motivation and inspiration, because social media was full of ai generated images and photographs, and content creators constantly using ai in their writing or content creation also. In seconds, you’d have essays and photographs and whatever you wish.

All led me to you
by Lubomira Kourteva, The Flower Shop

Personally, I’ve never used artificial intelligence in my writing and creations. Everything that I’ve ever written and created in my life, including my website, books, and all of my creations are done by my own hands, mind, heart, effort, love and visions. So yes, I do make grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes on here sometimes, because yes, I do write every word without spellcheck. The reason I am sharing this is because I know the hard work it takes into each part of the creative process, and I understand him, and this is why he reached out to me, because he knows my work of love, and knows I keep my temple nurtured in the wild places.

As a spiritual guide and astrologer, purity, intuitive wisdom and ethics are at the core of my practice. Spirituality is an alive thing, moving thing, sacred thing. Creativity also – same thing – moving thing, heart thing, pure thing, non linear, connected to the heart and spirit, so it is a human thing.

So I told him what I’ll tell you too – nothing will ever replace the human heart. Nothing can replace what you, with your unique vision and dreams and talents, can create with your hands, your heart, because you give it life. Otherwise, it’s empty. Words are just syllables, images are just colours. There’s no soul in it. It is us that give it life, and this is what then moves it, and moves others also. Do not ever doubt the power of human touch.

It doesn’t matter what others do anyway, because as an artist you do what you do because you feel it in your soul, your bones, and you can’t not do it. When inspiration comes to me, as if channeled from spirit, it takes over us – we all know this feeling as artists; and then, we have to give it life and make it into shape.

We don’t create art for validation from others nor to satisfy our egos, we do it because we can’t not do it – this is how powerful the passion is, how it fills us with purpose and beauty and desire to shape it in its right way. We are vessels, and as such, when inspired creativity comes, it is up to us to find the best way to shape it – to find the right words or colours to express its essence. That’s what we do as creatives: we attempt to make the subtle and non-linear into the tangible. To bring spirit into matter. To give it a body.

I know creativity and hard work aren’t appreciated nowadays, but you need to stay true to you and not concern yourself with others. And those who resonate will resonate and find you. People can only meet us as deeply as they’ve met themselves. Those who know and feel love, will appreciate love; those who know truth, and effort, they will recognize it and be able to appreciate it. Not all people have the spiritual gifts of recognizing truth and love, not all are able to be grateful, but you need to remain in your core of why you do what you do.

I know it can feel really discouraging nowadays, because as people we’ve become so disconnected from our hearts, from each other. Technology isn’t the issue, it’s us as humanity. It is the lack of values, the lack of caring, lack of emotional connection and lack of being good human beings to one another. We’ve become quite unkind, entitled, selfish, and I really hope we can remember that become human isn’t just about flesh, it is about being humane.

So yes, he felt discouraged that he spends hours and hours on a photograph – to gather up his equipment, invest in his camera, go out in nature, wait for the perfect moment to be captured. And then have trolls say crap and give their unasked opinions, disguised as constructive criticism, behind their little screens on their phone sitting on a couch never having to actually put in the effort to do anything in their life. Because the truth is that if someone knew what real work is, they will appreciate it in others also.

So I told him as I’ll tell you too: you need to keep doing this – putting in the effort, the work, and investing in your craft. Yes, the equipment, the going out in nature, the waiting for the moment for your photograph – if this is what you love, please keep doing it. Because the world needs creativity, and it needs you; because all of us are unique and the way we make something, speak and perceive and shape, it is unique and this is what makes our world wiser and more beautiful, richer in nuances and perspectives.

And at the end of the day, you do what you do because of you, because of your heart and soul, because of your values and principles. Let it be not your concern how others choose to move in their life; that’s their decisions, but you need to do what’s right for you and what you feel aligns to your moral compass and virtues and love.

Many people nowadays feel numbed in emotions and joy. But it’s because we forget to appreciate. And it’s because we’ve been used to seeking constant instant gratification. The thing is that pleasure lessens with instant gratification.

The only way to feel more pleasure is when you understand how something is made; and then you may see the beauty. You really love it so much more when you can appreciate it. And isn’t it amazing when you do something for your loved ones? Just a simple note of love you may hand write someone, or a meal you make them, or a little hand crafted gift to show you care for them.

Everything is sweeter when you understand how it’s made, the beauty of it, the patience and work and love and attention poured into it. Understanding and appreciating the step by step, we become more grateful for all the moments. We can only love what we appreciate, otherwise life passes and we miss so much beauty and so much love and wisdom.

And here I am in a butterfly farm, many years ago, capturing this sweetness of moment with my phone again. I still remember the warmth on my skin, and the butterflies touching my hands or strands of hair, flying freely around. I’ve named this photograph Grace, as it always reminds me of the power of grace and sacred surrender, of gentleness and trust, and opening ourselves to an expansion of perspectives and new learning.  

So may I now walk you through the sweet nectar called Soma.

Soma, the Sweet Nectar

Soma is the sweet nectar that may be offered to us if we now to appreciate and truly love. Soma refers to the sacred drink of the gods or the sweet divine nectar, also referred to as honey, ambrosia, or the waters of heaven; and it can also be called lunar elixir or moonflower.

In ancient sacred text, it is said that on some special and very rare moon nights, when this kind of tiny drop of nectar falls from a plant or flower and touches the tongue or eyes of someone, that person will gain insight into spiritual knowledge and higher wisdom and mystical secrets. Suddenly you may see the infinite spiritual realms, see the beauty beyond the veil and the rich worlds of mysticism and mystical secrets. There, everything is possible; there, all creativity is possible. But such things, moments of catching the drop of nectar, are rare.

In yoga, this sweet nectar is connected to sattva, which essentially allows you to live a more fulfilling life, if you choose to seek deeper and evolve, and reach beyond the boundaries of the limitations within you. To reach the nectar of the moon, you need to develop the sattvic qualities, such as appreciation, generosity, gratitude.

To get that sweetness that life invites to offer you, such as the love, the higher vision, the immense creative potential, the fulfillment, the nectar, you need to walk the path of appreciation, devotion, staying true to your human heart and authentic creative self and soul essence. This means to let go of entitlement, selfishness, ignorance, impatience, ingratitude, and the need for instant gratification.

Some people build towers, while others need to keep their temple in the wild places. It’s a slower path, not always appreciated nor understood by others, but it is a true path. So don’t ever feel discouraged by our changing world. Don’t ever feel discouraged by others neither, because everyone has their own unique learning and unique unfolding of their life. Do what feels true for you, and keep going. Don’t fall into the traps of seeking instant gratification, because it will only distract from the real things. In relationships too, it’s about appreciation.

We can only love what we appreciate; and you will miss the nectar, miss the beauty and miss the love if you can’t learn to pay attention, to witness, to devote and to appreciate. If you seek to live a life that goes beyond the surface, you need to be willing to go deeper, to open up to wisdom and self knowledge that offers you an opportunity for a deepening, and perhaps even someday offers you a taste of the sweet nectar.

For personal readings with me, you are welcome to browse through my Offerings.

All photography by me. For more of my flower photography, you are welcome to to browse my Flower Shop.

For more of my writings, browse through my Art of Love.

If you wish to support me and my work, you may do so by sharing it or donate here. For personal readings with me, you may visit my Offerings. 

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