California Poppy at evening.

California poppies open every day in mid-morning, and close again with the fading of the day’s light. I found this one yesterday, closing up for the night when I was out for a walk in between spells of rain. So closely connected to sunlight, poppies bring us back to our eternal source of sustenance and are traditionally used to address pain and anxiety, as an aid in holding unpleasant and uncertain life experiences. 

“Solace is found in allowing the body’s innate wisdom to come to the fore, the part of us that already knows it is mortal and must take its leave like everything else, and leading us, when the mind cannot bear what it is seeing or hearing, to the birdsong in the tree above our heads, even as we are being told of a death, each note an essence of morning and of mourning…” (David Whyte, Consolations)