The Wikipedia advises and most romantics agree, roses have a special significance awake or in sleep. Red roses are associated with love, beauty, passion, and romance. White roses are usually associated with spiritual purity or a return to a state of innocence. Jung says, “Dreaming of a symbol such as a rose, may be a very spiritual dream – one that provides the dreamer with a glimpse of her soul or the infinite…He called dreams of this nature, “Great Dreams” – dreams with complex mythological or archetypal imagery.” 

Yellow roses are associated with friendship – - and Texas. Wilted flowers can symbolize a thirst for change or a dying relationship.  The lily is a highly exalted flower. It’s appearance in dreams may herald a time of deep, spiritual rebirth. My favorite flowers are sunflowers. Sunflowers remind me of guardians watching over me till they bend from their own weight in the winter. Then they just kneel and say a prayer for me. How many of us have kept wilted flowers around as a bitter memory we just can’t let go of? Trees have been celebrated as symbols of time from as far back as the Garden of Eden. All symbols are gifts for our self-esteem when we learn to use them as band-aids for our soul. I often use symbols and metaphors in my own poetry even when I’m feeling depressed:   

Think about what symbols can give you peace of mind.  An angel? A stop sign? Body parts often are used as symbols. Our Eyes. Our hands. Our hand over our heart. Do you cherish the cross, angel wings and/or four-leaf clovers? How about a rabbit’s foot? We haven’t seen them around lately. If you’re thinking about or drawing triangles, they are symbols of body, mind and spirit.  A circle would mean your contemplating more than a relationship. The marriage ring is a symbol of forever.  As always, anger, grief, and sadness can all be expressed by the color black alone. Just scribble a Post-It with black and see how your misery flows away. Frowns are just smiles upside down and scribbling them on a Post-It can be like playing. We must let all our emotions move through us playfully to experience their spiritual wisdom. The body usually follows the head so trying smiling to feel better.  

I keep Post-Its close by on my desk when I am writing. Doing something we love is a healthy thing to do. Clean out the cobwebs in your head and try scribbling affirmations on your Post-It. I am good. I am talented. I am like no other.  I have angel wings resting on my back. I can fly. Draw a big heart. A smile. A big eye. A circle. Being artful means experimenting with what we have not with what we don’t have. Don’t over-think it. Everyone has their special way of expressing themselves. Your fate is in the symbols you chose to represent your feelings and emotions.  Sculpt your heart with the spiritual wisdom of symbols. All of us have a latent capacity to recognize and use symbols when communicating our heart. Symbolic speech is a means of saying something non-verbally through images and symbols. They can create clarity in expression, especially with some things that are most difficult to say. Children do this better than adults. Symbolizing feelings and experiences in images can be a more powerful means of expression and communication than verbally speaking. This is the aim of Art Therapy,  to render our imperfections less threatening and teach us to walk with spiritual wisdom.