I have a beautiful Christmas Cactus that sits in a turquoise clay pot. In the summer, it adorns my front porch, adding a splash of green and blue to my everyday comings and goings. Once the frost comes, the plant gets transferred inside to my living room, to take its place with the other plants.
For those of you not familiar with the Christmas Cactus, it is a green succulent plant that doesn't look much like a cactus. For approximately 350 days a year, it is a generic green plant. I don't mean that in a bad way; I love the green-ness of it, and it adds a fresh alive energy to the room, as all healthy plants do.
But in December, something happens to my Christmas Cactus. As if it had a smartphone or some sort of cosmic calendar to alert it of this specific time, the plant begins to develop pink buds on the ends of its leaves. By mid-month, those buds have bloomed into the most exquisite magenta-pink flowers. They are like little explosions of color, exploding from the green leaves. It never ceases to amaze me - year after year!
I love this constant source of surprise and joy. In my office, I am always spouting on about the body's 'Innate Intelligence'; "the power that made the body has the power to heal the body." I talk about the intricacies of physiology, the subtleties of the human being, life force. And then I look at my Christmas Cactus. Now there is an example of Innate Intelligence at its finest. Nature's gift to us. My cactus is an excellent reminder of the beauty of this time of year- the beauty of giving and of coming together with friends and family to share the surprises and joys (and explosions) of life.
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