What do you think of the phrase, "We can do hard things"?
To me, it represents the meme-ification of life (reduce everything into a catchy, pithy snippet). But it is also strangely reassuring. It reminds me of my resilience, what I've been through just to be here, and that I'm strong enough to keep going.
When a friend asked me to make something for her daughter who gets anxious (like before a dance performance or swim meet, going to the doctor, getting on an airplane), I immediately got excited! First, I love playing with new ways to use plants in my kitchen, and, second, I love being of service to others - especially my friends. This was a challenge that I could get behind!
I first thought of borage. This beautiful plant with blue star-shaped flowers has been used traditionally to boost courage (too close to "borage" to be a coincidence, I think). I happened to harvest some borage from my garden and didn't know what to do with it. So this was a little serendipity that I enjoyed, and I made a tincture with it. It turned this amazing dark green color (I used the leaves and flowers). Then I added some witch hazel and lavender essential oil (calming). This was a limited batch, however, as I didn't have much borage. Once word got out, I quickly had an order for 6 bottles of the stuff, then 2 more for a woman who's daughters had just lost their beloved grandmother.
As I realized that Bravery Spray is really something that everyone could use in their lives (adults and children alike), I developed a new recipe using ingredients I had on hand or could readily get. As I had run out of borage and didn't find a good source for it, I turned to flower essences. I have recently fallen in love with this magical healing flower power and have been making my own from my garden flowers.
I learned that yarrow flower essence is used for blocking negative energy from other people and from your environment. This was perfect! I matched this with orange and clary sage essential oils for their fragrance but also for their uplifting and anxiety-relieving properties. Add a little rose water (calming to the heart), and there you go - my new batch of Bravery Spray was born! I hope you all love it as much as I do!
