Part 1. Welcome or Welcome Back to Saguaro Sunday

Saguaro Sunday is our weekly opportunity to slow down. It’s a chance to practice gratitude, celebrate what went well, acknowledge where we can grow, and reflect on what we learned. It’s also a time to look ahead and ask ourselves: 

What do I want to learn this week? How do I want to bloom a little more?

My hope is that as you read, you’ll also reflect on your own week. You can open up your Notes app on your phone, or better yet, open up a physical notebook/journal!

If you’re comfortable, I’d also love for you to share your reflections in the comments so we can continue learning from one another!

Part 2: This Week’s Gratitude

As always, I am grateful for my family, friends, home, health, job, and Coco.

This week, I am especially grateful for my accountability partners: my friends.

Last week, I shared that I had been feeling a bit stuck in a funk. One thing I’ve learned about myself is that, more often than not, the way out isn’t to wait until I feel motivated again. It’s to get moving. Sometimes that means literally moving my body, and other times it means simply returning to the small habits that move me closer to the life I’m trying to build.

This week, that looked like competing with a friend through our Apple Watches to make sure we were standing more, exercising for at least 30 minutes each day, and gently encouraging each other to keep going. It also meant getting back to creating a couple of Reels/TikToks for Blooming Saguaro after taking a week off.

The goals we set for ourselves are, in many ways, made up. They’re often only meaningful because we decide they are. But having someone who cares about you and about the goals you’re working toward can make all the difference. Accountability isn’t about guilt or pressure. At its best, it’s simply someone reminding you of the person you’re trying to become, especially on the days when you’ve forgotten.

Part 3: This Week’s Bloom: Listening to Understand

I recently had a long conversation with someone that left me feeling…off.

At first, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. On the surface, we agreed on almost everything we were discussing. But underneath, the conversation felt more like a debate than two people exploring ideas together.

The whole time, I found myself trying to communicate that I was on the same page. I was nodding, saying things like, “I know,” “You’re right,” and “I believe you.” Yet it felt like the other person was preparing for disagreement that never actually came.

Then something interesting happened.

They shared something I had never heard before. I responded, “I’ve never heard that before. I’ll have to look that up.”

Their reply was, “Now you sound like a Republican.”

I was genuinely surprised.

To them, my response seemed to mean, “I don’t believe you.”

To me, it meant something completely different.

What I was actually trying to say was, “That’s fascinating. I’d love to learn more about that.”

I’ve realized that when someone tells me something new, especially if it’s a factual claim, my instinct is not to immediately accept it or reject it, but just to become curious. I want to read about it myself because I want to understand where the information came from and really digest it and make the information my own.

So for me, saying, “I’m going to look that up,” isn’t an act of distrust. It’s an act of engagement.

In fact, I think one of the highest compliments I can give someone is to say, “You just introduced me to something I didn’t know, and now I want to spend my own time learning more about it.”

Maybe this is the teacher in me? 

This conversation also made me realize that not everyone approaches conversations with the same goal.

Some people listen to decide whether they agree. Some people listen to respond. Some people listen to persuade. Some try to listen to understand. I try my best to stick to that last mode.

Understanding doesn’t mean agreeing with everything someone says. It also doesn’t mean dismissing what they say. It means taking their ideas seriously enough to investigate them further.

Again, I think that’s a great sign of respect that we can show another person. I don’t want to simply steal someone else’s conclusions. I want to understand how they arrived there.

That’s why I love learning so much.

I don’t just want answers.

I love the process of getting to those answers.

Part 4: This Week’s Wonder – Rapid-fire Edition! 

A few random things I learned this week:

• If a bee stings you, it’s possible for them to undo their stinger and live.
• Nintendo used to have a help line you could call if you got stuck while playing a game.
• Parenting advice on what level of “rough play” is ok with children.
• What an ideophone is. Basically, words that sound like the idea that they’re trying to express. Like “zigzag”
• The “running of the interns” is a media tradition in Washington, D.C. where newsroom interns sprint with physical, printed copies of U.S. Supreme Court decisions from inside the building to live television broadcast crews waiting outside on the plaza.
• A social skills tip on how to talk to strangers to make them more comfortable by adding more context when to your statements. So instead of, “Excuse me, what’s your name?” saying, “Excuse me, I wanted to come over and say ‘hi’ because I think I’ve seen you in this run club a couple of times and I wanted to introduce myself…” etc
• There is a subreddit called r/whatbirdisthis and you can submit not only photos of birds that you need help identifying, but even drawings of birds can be identified even if they’re not the best drawings.

Part 5: Next Week’s Growth 

This week, my goal is to balance my social life with work and Blooming Saguaro. I didn’t make a music Monday video this past week, so I hope to make one tomorrow too!

Now it’s your turn!

🌵What are you grateful for this week?

🌵 What did you learn?

🌵 What’s something you’ve been wondering about lately?

🌵 How do you want to bloom a little more this week?

🌵 Question of the Week: What does “listening to understand” mean to you?

I’d genuinely love to hear your reflections. Thank you again for spending part of your Sunday (or whatever day it is when you’re reading this) with me.

I’ll see you tomorrow for Motivation Monday over on my socials!

Until then…

Learn a bit each day. Bloom a little more. 🌵