Wishing upon a dandelion
by Alfonsina Betancourt
It was a casual Spring afternoon. My son and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. He was wearing his Batman t-shirt because, what can I say? He likes super heroes.
Soon after, we started seeing many dandelions on the side of the road, a collection of yellow flowers growing everywhere. Occasionally he would grab some and place them in a bag we were carrying for no other reason than to collect items. It didn’t take long for him to concentrate on grabbing dandelion seed heads, those delicate white globes of exposed seeds that had long been believed to contain the power of granting wishes.
My son, with his superhero shirt, started running, holding a bunch of them in his hands, the passing breeze breaking each globe into tiny speckles of seeds that flew in the air. It looked magical, and my son’s laugh was the perfect soundtrack for the moment. Once he was left with only stems in his hands, we set to find more. Luckily for us, dandelions are stubborn weeds that grow everywhere.
Besides their medicinal qualities, dandelions possess characteristics that make them very popular. They have very strong roots and every time we try to unroot them, they grow back at an unbelievable success rate. This is a cause of anxiety for those folks obsessed with perfect lawns. For kids like mine, a lawn full of dandelions is a playground full of wishes to be made.
As I saw my son rejoicing at the way the seeds flew in the air with each blow, I thought about how dandelions are a perfect metaphor for what happens to our wishes. We may contain all of the seeds for success, including a strong seed that can reproduce in any lawn, but a seed cannot germinate unless it travels. The beauty of a dandelion is that it needs the wind or the blow of a boy’s warm breath to reach a destination.
In my romantic view of the world, I have always loved to watch the sky, looking for shooting stars. I am not embarrassed to admit that the whole point of it is to have an excuse to send my wishes to the universe. For some reason, setting an intention and leaving it in someone’s hands seems safer. Like the universe can hold on to our desire in a way that sometimes we are unwilling to do. Once a wish has been sealed with the pass of a shooting star, there is no coming back, no possible regret.
When we wish upon a dandelion, the power of our intentions reproduces with the hundred seeds that fly away. We don’t know where they land, but we are so certain of our desire that we make them go somewhere. As we grow older, we tend to focus on the plans: how will we make our wishes come true? We design step-by-step, get prepared, and look for advice. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem comes when in the process of going somewhere, we disconnect from the place where the wish started, assuming that our wish was ours to begin with and not a social convention forced on us. That is where the seeds lay. If we forget the origin of a desire, our detail plans are useless because they become at risk of deviating from that sacred space where our soul got ignited. And a plan that has forgotten its origin can’t provide true fulfillment, just mere accomplishments.
“ If we forget the origin of a desire, our detail plans are useless because they become at risk of deviating from that sacred space where our soul got ignited. ”
If we close our eyes and find what our wishes truly are, those desires that take us closer to our spiritual purpose, we already have the seeds to make them grow. Plans are a good way to start to make them a reality. But if we want to have real fun in the process, grab a dandelion head and blow the seeds in the air with all your strength. Let them fly away with the wind, unaware of where they’ll land, and you’ll see how the universe starts aligning to make them true. No superhero shirt is needed. The magic starts when you realize what you really want with all your heart. The rest is just part of the magic act. And if you haven’t found out your purest wish, go for a walk and keep looking because a boy taught me that there are infinite dandelions out there waiting to be picked on, and a million wishes waiting to be blown in the wind. And that is magical!
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