Rediscovering Myself Through Flowers

It didn't start with a grand story. Boredom was actually behind my newly found passion for flower arrangement.

Photograph taken by Sasha Mus, 2021.

It all started during the Circuit Breaker, Singapore's domestic lockdown response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a young woman living alone, I often found myself tired of my home interior's lack of color and touch of nature.

My initial intention was to embellish my boring apartment with an elegant flower arrangement from the renowned Singaporean florist studio, Humid House. But after looking at the price, I knew it was wiser to invest that amount of money in upskilling myself.

And…Voila! I chose to sign up for a private Ikebana mentorship class. Ikebana is a Japanese style of flower arrangement taught at a flower school.

Through the lessons, my mentor taught me how to create a theme for an arrangement, psychology of color, shape harmony, and the philosophy behind the art of flower arrangement. It was a very therapeutic activity as it encouraged me to practice mindfulness as I arranged the stems purposefully.

This is where the story begins. I find peace, as if I am immersed in a meditative state when I am in the presence of flowers. To create a meaningful work of flowers, my mentor says, "One must be fully present, and the mind must not wander to the past nor the future."

Being mentally present at the moment is a difficult task for me because I have the habit of overthinking everything. However, arranging flowers keeps my mind grounded and able to focus on the vase in front of me. Hence training me to be more present in life.

Also, by learning the meaning of flowers and using their philosophy to express my message, it soon became my own personal mode of storytelling. Eventually, flower arrangement has become my third language after English and Bahasa Indonesia.

Not that the audience of my flowers will understand my intention literally, but I hope they will feel the emotions that I exhibited in my work. Moreover, I hope they won't just say it "looks" beautiful in appearance– Instead, they can say it "feels" beautiful– so I know my work has touched their hearts.

A Wildflower,

Sasha Mus