Sometimes we look for the answers elsewhere, when the answer may be right there- in front of us.
Over the weekend, I had walked into a chic plant store, and saw a young clerk wiping each leaf with a towel. Each leaf. Seriously. Granted, she was being paid to be there, but she was telling me that from her experience- she found that wet microfiber towels were really the best to trap the dirt from the plant leaves. The plant did look pretty shiny and attractive.
In my living room, I have a ficus tree that I’ve been thinking of replacing for quite some time. The leaves are dull. Maybe twice a year, I would carry this huge plant to the backyard and spray it with a hose to get rid of some of the dust on the leaves. But it still looked kind of dusty afterwards. I took the clerk’s advice, and started wiping some of my simpler plants with the microfiber towel. Then, the last plant that needed to be wiped was the ficus tree- there are an incredible number of small leaves! At first I stood, wiping each leaf, thinking that this was such a chore. And then realizing how the leaves really did look shinier after a wipe, I got a chair and sat with the tree, as I wiped the rest of its leaves. I almost got rid of this plant bc it looked dull, when all it needed was a little bit of love.
The ficus tree represents peace and abundance. In East Asia, it’s believed that Buddha gained enlightenment under such a tree. And it’s a tree- it always gives out good vibes!
Maybe the Answer is Simpler Than We Think
