The Art of Receiving

What happens when we shift our focus? Join us on this experimental journey as we kick off season three of the Gratitude Blooming podcast with artist Arlene Kim Suda, and embark on a new adventure that might even lead to a retreat with fellow Gratitude Blooming guests!

In this heartfelt and inspiring conversation, we draw both the Azalea card, representing hope, and  the Agapanthus card, representing perspective.  We reflect on the significance of these cards and dive into the importance of intention, the art of receiving, and being grounded. Together, we share insights on hope, community, and transformation. Plus, discover our exciting new T-shirt - "We are rooting for you" - perfect for gift giving!

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Chapters

• 0:11 Gratitude Blooming Season Three
• 16:44 Intention and Receiving Season Importance

Transcript

Omar Brownson: 0:11

Hello Belinda.

Belinda Liu: 0:14

Hi Omar, so excited to have Arlene with us today as well.

Omar Brownson: 0:21

Particularly as we continue the gratitude blooming podcast experiment. This has been quite the journey. This is season three that we're kicking off in some ways. We've gone through the 39 cards in the gratitude blooming card deck twice now, and this has been the journey because it really actually started when, before the pandemic, you used to hold weekly gratitude blooming circles on Saturdays, and then, during COVID, we started doing a Zoom session, we called them a thankful Thursday and we started holding space and we had all these amazing stories that were coming out of that very tumultuous moment, and so we turned those stories into a podcast for season one. For season two we invited amazing guests, from singers to healers to executive coaches, and now for season three, we want to experiment with something a little bit different. We want to sort of shorten the podcast and really focus on pulling cards, because that's really what is at the heart of this practice is this opportunity for self reflection.

Belinda Liu: 1:34

And this opportunity is so fresh in my heart right now.

Belinda Liu: 1:40

I will one Omar you and I being together in person and Santa Barbara for a retreat with our Chinese medicine doctor, taoist teacher, paul Wong, who is also a season two guest.

Belinda Liu: 1:53

It was wonderful to be in person to like really practice, you know, feeling our bodies and understanding what season we're in in our bodies according to Chinese medicine, and literally I came back to Mount Shasta and got to spend time with Charlie, who is a big fan of our podcast. He reached out to let us know that he's been listening to every single episode every single day, walking his dog outside in Bellingham, washington And as he is now, you know, just on the face of a career transition, starting a new job in about a month. He was like I really want to go on a nature retreat and through one of our episodes he found out about our retreat center in Mount Shasta and I got to spend real lifetime with Charlie walking the land in our different spots and actually talking about the gratitude blooming cards and themes and it was so cool to have him speak to how real these plants are and their wisdom are in him navigating some really tough career changes And he literally said wow, having this practice like saved my life, and that is huge.

Omar Brownson: 3:14

That's amazing. Well, maybe we should have a gratitude blooming retreat at Hestia. If that's of interest to you, email us at hello at gratitude blooming dot com. Belinda and I are thinking about having a dedicated retreat just for gratitude blooming guests. So if this is of interest to you, let us know. Hello at gratitude blooming dot com. So, without further ado, i say let's share the cards and really see what is possible for this season. So I don't know if anyone would like to. Arlene or Belinda, you'd like to share an intention or question that you're holding right now, and if you would share that and then we can pick one of the 39 cards.

Belinda Liu: 4:04

Arlene, i'd love for you to start, because you're just looking like the one of the plants of gratitude blooming today. And one thing I'm really excited about with season three is we are actually going to show the live videos of the practice every week, so you can see our faces and kind of be with us live every week.

Arlene Kim Suda: 4:25

Yeah, i often feel like the plant in the conversation, like I'll sit and like I'm sitting on a table here listening in, but I'm happy to be here with you guys and, i don't know, i'll maybe kick off the practice today by making an inquiry and, you know, i'm kind of curious about what would be helpful for us to know about, you know, this change of format and moving from season two to season three. Is there a message that we can get from one of the cards?

Omar Brownson: 5:04

Alright, and I will scroll seven rows, six columns. so if you want to just tell me when to stop, Ooh, i like that.

Arlene Kim Suda: 5:11

You know, you just picked two numbers right.

Omar Brownson: 5:13

Or you can pick two numbers.

Arlene Kim Suda: 5:14

Yeah, i like the picking two numbers about. Let's go with three and two. So third row, second column.

Omar Brownson: 5:27

I don't know. Here we go, here we go. Alright, so what is in store for us this season? Number 15 the azalea representing the theme of hope. Take a moment to remember a time you were filled with hope. What do you need to feel like that now? So, before answering the question or the prompt, what do you see when you look at the, the art and what comes up for you with the theme of hope?

Arlene Kim Suda: 5:59

Yeah, i have. You know, i have maybe a unique experience with these cards because I drew them. So you know, there is a lot of history with this. So this was one of the cards I drew based on a story my dad told me, and so he grew up in Korea and he remembers the azaleas growing on the mountain side and so, yeah, so it's a little bit heart stopping for me to, you know, just see this card. But the message is like you know what a great card to get about. You know, looking into the, you know what's going to happen, you know, in the next season.

Omar Brownson: 6:48

Beautiful. How about you, belinda? is you look at this card? Any messages come up for you, or what do you even see as you just look at the art?

Belinda Liu: 7:00

Well, i am literally noticing on the land just how the azaleas are starting to bloom right now at this time of year and and how it just kind of gets me to stop and literally look around in nature, and so I just love that this prompt and the flower are just so open. And when I look at this this question of you know remembering a time when I was filled with hope It's interesting that it's talking about kind of the past and we're, arlene, your questions really around the present and the future. You know what is in store. So I think it's it's remembering that the future isn't that scary, you know, like the past is concrete because it already happened, so there's no mystery in the past, and so it almost makes me want to feel that mystery can be hopeful, to not scary or daunting, which sometimes is how I tend to physically approach Uncertainties, like a little tense and kind of contracted, and I feel like those alias like no, open your body up, bloom like these beautiful, fragrant flowers.

Omar Brownson: 8:14

It's a wonderful reflection and, you know, i see these four Flowers that are represented here and I feel like it's three of us plus the plant is present you know, makes for and You know, and I think sometimes hope comes in community right.

Omar Brownson: 8:36

Sometimes, when we Can feel alone Which is increasing more and more in our digital age and remote working and all these things that have us disconnected Hope is a reminder that we're not alone. And so when I just see the four Flowers here and I think of the three of us and, and, and the extra one of The plants, it's just that reminder. And and I only know this because I've been working with these cards now for a little while And you both have been so good at teaching me more about plants Is that the azalea, if I'm correct, is like more of like a woody plant, like it's a very, it's almost Like a bark, like limbs.

Belinda Liu: 9:24

Yeah, it's like a shrub, It's a shrub, and so it's.

Omar Brownson: 9:27

It's less flowery and more tree to me, and so I I think about that as it relates to hope is because sometimes flowers can feel very Fragile. You know there's whereas a tree, there's a sturdiness to it, and so I love Just that idea that hope is represented by something more stocky, it's like not something that just sort of blows in the wind, but really is grounded and rooted and there's some strength to it.

Belinda Liu: 9:57

This is a very good card, very good omen for us in this new season and and this wild experiment of gratitude blooming where we're all three of us leaning into The wild unknown, like we really don't know how this season is going to play out, and we're just trying something different to see, how you know Are you our listeners and our viewers What you receive and what feedback you have. We're just constantly trying to Help you kind of navigate and way find through a lot of change and uncertainty right now. So I actually think I'm kind of feeling Omar and Arlene for the next round. Why don't we pick a card for our community around life change, transition I think this is really inspired by my conversations with Charlie on the land is like, you know, wow, like this came to him during a time of tremendous Uncertainty and not knowing, like, how to handle it, and it is hard sometimes.

Belinda Liu: 10:59

We come from a You know a context where our natural response is to kind of run away from it or even like numb away the discomfort of that. You know uncertainty and so You know I want to. I think we can pick a card for our listeners who are navigating that right now and just really struggling with it. Like it's not easy, it's really uncomfortable. So what plant wants to show up for people around navigating that mystery.

Omar Brownson: 11:30

All right.

Belinda Liu: 11:32

Omar, i want you to pick the card for our listeners.

Omar Brownson: 11:35

You don't mean all right. Well, i'm gonna scroll towards the bottom here because I feel like people tend to pick towards the top, and So I'm going to the second bottom row, fourth card over, and Let's see what our what messages are for our listener. Number two, the Agapanthus, representing the theme of perspective. The prompt is pause, close your eyes and take three deep breaths. What do you notice when you open your eyes?

Omar Brownson: 12:26

So I just appreciate seeing you and that we can be in this sort of digital age with Arlene in San Francisco, belinda in Mount Shasta, me in LA, and then this sort of shared portal that we've created with the digital Grad 2 Blooming Card deck, that even though we can be in three different places, we're still here in the same time, and I think we each bring different perspectives to what we do.

Omar Brownson: 12:59

Sometimes that makes things more complicated and sometimes it makes things easier, and I think I'm just sort of thinking about the last card that we picked with perspective of hope and the four flowers and how each one has a different perspective, and so I think part of these practices is around building empathy and building compassion and allowing ourselves to both give ourselves some self-compassion as to like how we're looking at the world, but also, how do we do a better job of seeing how other people are looking at the world And where do we find that sort of common ground between the two? I love that that in some ways, just in the art, it's this single stem, but it has then these mini pedals. It's like we all share this one planet, but we all sort of bring something very different to it.

Arlene Kim Suda: 14:04

Yeah, i love the prompt. So I actually tried to do the exercise live here as you were reading it, and, honestly, when I opened my eyes I heard a bird. So I like this idea of mixing up our perception of things. So we think of seeing like through our eyes. But what if seeing is through our other senses, like hearing? So I didn't see the bird, but I heard it. So and I also I don't know I guess I'm appreciating the prompt here because I think it didn't really dawn on me but why isn't that, if you take three deep breaths, that when you open your eyes things are different? It just makes you realize that there are many different ways that we can view our situation or our moment in time here.

Belinda Liu: 15:04

Well, i literally was also doing the practice and while hearing Omar read the prompt And I noticed in my body my nervous system calmed down quite a bit And I had to drive here to record this to have good enough internet.

Belinda Liu: 15:20

And so there's a part of me that was still kind of arriving physically And I think that is very symbolic of transition, right, like you feel like you're discombobulated, you don't know where you are, where you're going, and I think for me, my mind tends to start then trying to plan and control the situation so I could feel safer, but then in reality I don't even know where I'm going, so it's kind of just wasting energy.

Belinda Liu: 15:47

And so I think this reminder from the Agapanthus, from nature, to say hey, when you feel overwhelmed, just stop, just stop, just pause, and can you really see the situation or feel it in a new way, and so in my case, the sense of feeling and embodiment really took place And I felt the energy literally dropping down, like almost like it's like sinking down into the earth, like the plant is taking it from me and bringing it down into the earth for composting. And so, yeah, i appreciate that it was that invitation And it's one of the few in the card deck where the prompt is actually a practice. So I'm also appreciating that nature gave us a little bit more of a concrete way to manage the great mystery.

Omar Brownson: 16:43

Well as you're sharing. Belinda, just remind me of the importance of intention, right, like, just intentionally pausing, intentionally closing your eyes, intentionally breathing, And, as Paul Wong reminded us after every practice, we should be different than when we started, right, and it's that recognition, that just pausing, even for three breaths, opening our eyes, how can we be different in that moment? And, as we shared this weekend, that was my intention for this weekend was how to move from the dreaming, believing, achieving, and more into dreaming, believing, receiving, like. How does it, how do we come to a place of receiving? And, in some ways, like, when you open your eyes or you listen, you're receiving these messages, you know you're receiving the bird, you know calling, you're receiving your body coming back to yourself, and so I love that as this perspective for this season of like. What is it to be in the season of receiving?

Belinda Liu: 17:54

Well, i'm so excited for our listeners to take this practice, this wisdom of the Agapanthus, to their lives. I hope you, you know, get a little peace with whatever you're navigating with this card.

Omar Brownson: 18:08

Here's to hope and perspective. wishing you well, Cheers.

Belinda Liu: 18:14

Cheers, and you know we're starting a new month and I just wanted to let people know one exciting thing, which is this is the season of gift giving. You know, there's Father's Day coming up, there is graduation and birthdays all the time And we, in addition to our amazing candles and the card deck and the note cards, we now have a T-shirt. Omar share about this T-shirt because I am so excited about it. I cannot wait to wear this T-shirt. Cheers.