Arranged by Intuition: A Journey Through Flowers, Friends, and Form

In this blog, I reflect on the joy and personal growth that came from contributing to a community event, discovering the meditative art of Ikebana, and drawing unexpected parallels between floral desi

For the first time in my life, I decided to make an intentional effort to give back to a community I had just moved to. It was an instinctual decision—one I sometimes struggle with, as we all know how precious our time is. When you invest your hard work and energy into something that deviates from your "main path," it’s natural to wonder if it’s worth it.

But contributing to and building a team around a small community event—especially one that helped raise funds for a good cause—ended up being deeply rewarding. I was surprised by how much it moved me. Collaborating with a team, all working toward the same goal, overwhelmed me in the best way. It reminded me how much I care about people and community.

I used to surround myself with people who were “same-same”—same thinking, same goals, similar perspectives. But since moving to Dallas, I’ve shifted my friend group and now find myself surrounded by an entirely new world of perspectives. I’ve never learned so much in my life. Working with people of different beliefs and strategies has been so refreshing—it’s just so cool to me.

One of the things I contributed to the event was a few Ikebana flower arrangements. This Japanese technique has quickly become one of my favorite new hobbies. It forces you to slow down and be extremely intentional with each decision. Flowers can be overwhelming—everything is beautiful! But in Ikebana, the goal is to create harmony in your vase, and the beauty of that process is that it harmonizes you in return.

I’m not an expert at this—far from it—but I’ve fallen in love with finding strange and unique flowers and seeing what I can create. I gravitate toward darker tones and more interesting compositions. Ikebana makes you look at flowers the way you might look at designing a room: it’s all about choice