The first rays of morning sunlight illuminates a bed of emerging flowers displaying their vibrant colours and intriguing shapes. This is their season of glory, when everything is new, their growth robust, and their floral displays dazzle with form and colour.

In the midst of the vibrant show, a desiccated seed head of a long spent flower remains firmly in place. Its season of glory now past, it endures, ready to release its remaining seeds to the capricious winds of spring. It’s given little notice in the riotous display in which it sits. Even in its slowly disintegrating form, it holds the power to foster new life and inspiring displays.

When I made this photograph of the last seeds clinging to an old seed head, it reminded me that throughout our lives, each of us learn, create and spread seeds of many forms. Seeds of information, inspiration, creativity, wisdom. Like seeds in the plant world, the seeds we share drift to places we might never imagine. We never know when some bit of inspiration or knowledge we release to the world might have a profound effect on someone who may have never known us, or who may live far away.

Our creative efforts are like seeds. We spend our season of glory bringing our creative ideas into existence, then we share our creations with others. In sharing our unique seeds of perception and creativity we effectively release ideas and inspiration to all that see our work. Simply observing what we have created, has the power to dramatically alter the way someone else sees the world. The seeds of inspiration and perception we share, in turn, evokes inspiration in others which can continue to spread like garden flowers, making the world a more beautiful, interesting and inspiring place.

During our life we may have many distinct seasons of growth. When any of these seasons feels like it has passed, and we may feel that our energy is completely spent or that our inspiration has withered, we can take comfort in knowing that there are always valuable seeds remaining that we can cast into the world, and that these seeds have the power to foster growth and inspiration in others.

It is in the sharing of our gifts, our seeds, that we inspire others, and the next season of growth. What seeds of wisdom or creativity might you be ready to release into the world?