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Did you ever make an assumption, act on it and discover years later that you were wrong? If so, were there negative consequences? Fortunately there were no negative consequences in the story I am about to share. In fact, recently after reading about the “PictureThis” phone app that identifies flowers and plants, I had an experience that led to a second surprising and delightful discovery.
Many years ago I dug out a plant in a narrow bed against a wall leading up to my entryway. I was certain that the plant was a weed! It never occurred to me to ask anyone about it. I didn’t even think to check with the previous owner of my home. Oftentimes over the years, small plant shoots would appear and I simply pulled the “weeds” out. What I did NOT know was that the root system was quite strong. It began moving underground to the large hibiscus plant next to my garage.
Ultimately the plant started winding its way up and through the hibiscus plant, occasionally showing buds that opened.Last week, there were so many full grown purple flowers around the outer edges of the plant, that I asked the gardeners to trim them off. They had been in the way as I walked past them.
After they were cut, I felt bad when I saw the abundance of live flowers on the ground. I was too embarrassed even to photograph them that way. I took several into my home and put them in a vase. As the flowers died, I noticed some of the stems had minuscule buds. I left the stems in water and the buds did open into very tiny flowers that lasted for a day. The point of this story is, that during the times of all the cutting, discarding, etc. over many years, I had been wrong. And, as I wrote above, I had NEVER checked out my assumptions. With the buds emerging, I became really curious. I searched Google Images for “purple weed” and this flower did not appear in any of them. As I continued searching I was led to the “PictureThis” App. I downloaded it from the App store and did a search on it using the photo I had taken. Imagine my surprise to learn it was not a weed. Rather, it was a Mexican Petunia!
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Exploring the App further I discovered that the Wild Irises I had been photographing in the parking lot of a Wetlands where I walk regularly are more than simply “Wild Irises.” They are known as “Fairy Irises.” What a fitting name for them! I assume you agree as you look at the photo. Is that assumption accurate? Self-Reflecting Queries – Are you aware of assumptions you’ve made and acted upon, assuming that you were right, only later to discover you were wrong? Were there negative consequences? What if there are ways you can avoid and eliminate such actions? If you’d like to have a conversation about this, comment in the “Leave a Reply” section below. I will get back to you. |