One of my favorite perennials is the Bleeding Heart.
Their flowers are like origami.
How does Mother Nature manage to create such an extraordinary variety of shapes and colors out of a such a limited selection of amino acids (adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine) in plant — as well as our own — DNA?
And how do the plant cells unfold in such complicated and exquisite patterns?
Today’s Throwback Thursday heads back to a November 9, 2013 blog post about how people who sing with other people — especially in choirs when they are encouraged to breath together during certain sections of the music — can end up aligning their heart beats.
You can click here to read more about this fascinating topic if you are curious.
It is another reminder that singing — and singing with other human beings — can be a very healthy and uplifting thing to do.
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
I am most familiar with the pink + white varieties of bleeding heart, but occasionally I have seen a completely white variant in a neighbor’s garden.
It is very elegant — but I miss the pink/red part of the blossoms…
Thank you to the talented and generous photographers at Pixabay.
Thank you to Mother Nature, who keeps doing her thing regardless or in spite of the mess we humans are making in our own lives.
And thank YOU for reading yet another one of my blog posts!
Another deep breath in.
And deep breath out.
You are always welcome to visit my musical web site — willsings.com.
And you can find me singing on various streaming platforms by searching for “Will McMillan featuring Doug Hammer.”
amusicalifeonplanetearth 
Amazing shape
I agree. How do all of those cells know how to grow/unfold into those beautiful, colorful shapes?!
The flowers really do look like hearts in the final photo. So beautiful!
Hearts all around, and even beating together. Lovely post, Will!
THANK YOU! Pixabay is an extraordinary resource for imagery…
You’re welcome, Will.
Thanks for the reminder about nature’s beauty and the power of music to bond us Will. To aligning hearts…
You are very welcome, Brad. I think WordPress does a pretty good job of aligning our hearts, too…
Yes, to WP and our community. 🙏
I love bleeding heart too, Will. I’ve seen them compared to “valentines hung out to dry.”
I love that — “Valentines hung out to dry…”
I so agree about singing with others. During the pandemic, when I couldn’t do that, there was such a void. I filled it with writing but I really felt for people who didn’t have a different creative outlet.
Yes. It was a cruel irony that singing was one of the best ways to spread the COVID virus…
Beautiful flowers and the power of singing together – lovely!
Thanks for reading and commenting! My aim is to provide some uplifting posts along with some grimmer posts… And I can’t get enough flowers in my daily life — both in reality and in photos!
Beautiful flowers and beautiful words, Will. Nature is a miracle worker.
Yes. mature IS a miracle worker. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!
😍
A bleeding heart is such a remarkable little piece of art!
Absolutely a work of art…
Nature is truly amazing. I invested in cabinet painting for my kitchen. The process just emphasizeed how much work it takes us to create beauty. Yet, the world’s beauty seems effortless.
Yes, it CAN take a lot of time and love and inspiration and labor to create beauty. Perhaps you saw some of nature’s beauty in the woodwork of your cabinets as they were being sanded and painted? And it is truly amazing how much beauty mother nature offers us if we are able to slow down and savor it. Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
Couldn’t agree more. There is no better reset than getting into nature and slowing down.
Today I am blessed with lots of trees and birdsong… Ahh, summer!
This lovely post reminded me of my mother, who used to grow bleeding hearts in her flowerbed. Thank you for the reminder to breathe in, breathe out. It to early in the day to stress out! 💕🌺💕
How lovely that your mother grew bleeding hearts in her flower bed. I am beginning to plant the flower beds at a hew home — and I want to make sure I get some of them going this year (to bloom next year…) And I need too remind myself to slooooow down and breath in and out all day long…
oh they really are like origami – wow! 🩷
Yet another example of nature’s little miracles…
Indeed! 🥰