Allow children and flowers to free your mind from daily stress

Some plants seem to act as child-magnets, drawing kids to them again and again. Even the tiniest flower can seem like a miracle to a child: consider the personality of a pansy's 'face' or the texture of a woolly lamb's ear.

Of course, every child knows how to tell the time, dandelion style: you blow as hard as you can, then you count the number of puffs left that it takes to blow away the remaining 'clock' or seeds.

Next time you see one take a minute to blow out the clock, if there is one. In that moment, you will have kept faith with your own childhood self, as well as connecting with those countless boys and girls who, for centuries, have picked dandelion clocks, closed their eyes and blown.

According to tradition, each of the tiny, feathery seeds on a dandelion clock has the power to sail secret messages on the wings of the wind. Perhaps this childlike chill-out technique will blow your hassles away, just for a moment.

And who doesn't remember 'He loves me, he loves me not …'?

Somehow - through the centuries and over whole continents, and generally without the benefit of books - gentle, playful traditions have been passed down from generation to generation. How else to explain how the simple, repetitive steps involving making a daisy chain - or a clover chain, if there are no daisies handy - is known by children the world over?

Sitting in a park or garden and idly piecing together a daisy chain, with the sun on your hair, you will feel your shoulders relax and your breathing become slower and calmer as your chain lengthens. Relax - simple pleasures are life's treasures.

Daisy Chain

clump of daisies or clover patch

Pick daisies or clover with stems of at least 4 cm (11/2 in) long.

Use the very tip of your thumbnail or a tiny point of a nail file or butter knife to make a narrow slit towards the end of the first stem. Make sure you do not cut all the way through to the bottom of the stem.

Slip the second daisy through so that the head fits snugly over the slit. Make a slit in this second stem, thread the third flower and pull it gently into place, and so on.

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This article was sent to us by: Brenda Sawyer at 06092010

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