Practice Relationship Skills By Caring for Plants
Why Caring for Plants Makes You A Better Partner
Plants are relationship practice. You build a relationship with each plant you own and because of that, you need to tend to each of them as they need. The time and effort you put into your plant to thrive and grow will be returned exponentially. It’s a reciprocal relationship, what you put in you get out. If you’re a natural plant killer, that’s ok. That just means you have room to improve. If you think about your relationship with your plants like you would a relationship with a partner, you will find plenty of ways to care for your plants. Before you know it, you’ll be living in a jungle. You need to take care of them regularly so that they will live and return your good care.
For this reason, we encourage you to use all of the love languages with your plants. In other words, practicing care for your plants in different love languages will strengthen your ability to show love in different languages with your partner. This could look like
Words of Affirmation - Compliment them, tell them to grow big and strong, remind them how beautiful they are.
Acts of Services - Feterlize your plants and care for them. Regular watering is necessary but every now and then indoor house plants need to be fertilized to help them grow. This is an act of service for your plant, you are helping them grow big and strong!
Gifts - Get your plant other plant friends so they can hang out and be happy. Plants like to be near other plants, they thrive in a garden rather than alone. Just like people. Get your plant other plant friends.
Quality Time - Beautify your home with more plants, you’ll enjoy the peaceful vibes they create relaxing you and freshening the air you breathe. Skip the expensive air purifier and pick up plants instead.
Physical Touch - Share your energy with these plants. Touch your plant’s leaves, get your hands in the dirt, care for your plants, and watch your energy shift after spending time touching them. Plants soothe and when we swap energy by touching them, they take our energy and leave us with their peaceful and relaxing energy.
Plants are metaphors for relationships. You have a relationship with each of your plants and they are all different. Treat your plants like you would treat your partner and watch them grow and flourish!
Not only do they beautify your home, they purify your air, and they reduce your stress by creating a peaceful and relaxing environment.
PRO TIP: the trick I’ve learned is to water indoor plants LESS than you think you should. I drowned one of my plants, apparently 3 ice cubes a week is too much! We recommend creating a Plant Watering Schedule so that you don’t over-water or forget to water any of your plants! If you make this an automatic reminder you’ll build your plant watering into your routine and you and your plants will flourish!
Plants are a reflection of our own self-care routine. Did you forget to water them, did you forget to say kind things to them, did you forget to fertilize them? When we care for someone/something else it’s easy to forget about our own needs. This is why we recommend NAMING YOUR PLANTS so that you remember to tend to them daily. We especially love the idea of naming a plant after yourself and therefore when you tending to it, the metaphor represents your own self-care routine. When we name our plants we feel more connected to them, connected to their energy, they are living beings. Plans are so good to us and it doesn’t require much effort to be good to them too.
Not only do plants serve as a metaphor for your own self-care, but plants are also great metaphors for your relationship.
Remember that Love Fern from How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days? Andi (Kate Hudson) tells Benjamin (Matthew McConaughey) that it was symbolic of their relationship and that since he let it die he was sending the message that he was going to let their relationship die. Obviously, this movie is a bit more dramatic than we think you would be in real life, let’s not forget they both were in a competition. However, the point is she bought the fern to remind him of their relationship. Not taking care of the plant shows her what kind of effort he is putting into the relationship.
Plants need to be cared for and so do relationships. Both partners need to constantly tend to each other and care for each other to keep the relationship alive. When one partner neglects their partner the relationship starts to deteriorate. When plants are watered too much their leaves start to change colors. With too much attention the relationship it can be stifling and suffocating. Finding the balance for what works within your partnership is something that’s learned over time and through open communication. Your plants will communicate with you telling you exactly what they need, just like your relationship with your partner.
Our Favorite House Plants
Snake Plants
Perfect for the bedroom
Moonshine Snake Plants are my favorite! Their light blue-green color is incredible! Snake Plants in general are super easy to care for as they are a part of the succulent family and thrive in dryer environments. When watering, let the soil dry out first before dropping a couple of ice cubes in the soil. Pro Tip: Treat this plant like a succulent.
Buy your Snake Plant here
Money Tree
Perfect for the bathroom
This plant is a bit more high maintenance than others, they LOVE sunlight but they are picky about watering. If you place this plant in your bathroom, close the door when you shower so the steam builds up and waters the tree that way. Pro Tip: They like warm, moist environments so hot steamy showers are perfect!
Buy your Money Tree here
Monstera
Perfect for the living room
This plant is a statement piece. As it matures, it develops holes in the leaves creating the Swiss cheese leaf look which is quite dramatic and a bit of a focal point. We like this plant in the living room as it’s a great conversation starter. Pro Tip: Buy a mature plant to get the Swiss cheese leaf look immediately.
Buy your Monstera Plant here
ZZ plant
Good for anywhere in the house
These plants are nearly indestructible. They are hearty and hold water well, meaning, they don’t need to be water frequently. PRO TIP: If the plant’s leaves are waxy, that means they can thrive in between waterings. Also good for beginners because they will help teach you how to care for them. Pro Tip: weigh down the roots with stones.
Buy your ZZ plant here
Pothos
Perfect for the kitchen
Also known as Devil’s Ivy because this plant grows, and grows, and grows. It requires very little maintenance for this lush plant to trail. They like to hang so their branches grow long, or place them on top of a piece of furniture to let their leaves trail down. Pro Tip: Guide the branches to where you want them to grow so you craft your greenspace.
Buy your Pothos Plant here
Birds of Paradise
Perfect for the main room
This is one of the most popular statement plants as it can grow up to 6 feet tall. This board leafy plant flowers in tropical environments but indoors makes a great green soothing statement. Pro Tip: Place crystals in your plants to charge the crystals and also share the crystal energy with the plants, amplifying the energetic dispersion.
Buy your Birds of Paradise Here
Where To Place Your Indoor Plants
Feng Shui Bagua Map image courtesy of MindBodyGreen
Not only do plants make beautify your home, but they can also serve multiple purposes with mindful placement. We used a Feng Shui Bagua map to determine where the best home for them would be in each room. In other words, we purposely placed our plants in areas of the room that attract specific energy. When it comes to plants, since they are growing and living, you want to place this prosperous energy in specific parts of the room to attract that energy in your world.
How to Feng Shui your room with plants
Look at the Bagua (map) on the right. When standing at the front entrance of each room, mentally overall this map so your room is mentally sectioned into 9 areas. The two most important corners to remember are the back left corner is the MONEY corner and the back right corner is the LOVE corner.
Bedroom - Place the plants in the right corner of the room. Promote LOVE in this room.
Office - Place the plants in the back left corner of the room. Promote MONEY through business.
Kitchen - Place the plants in the middle left of the room. Promote HEALTH, food is medicine.
Living Room - Place the plants in the middle right of the room. Promote happiness through fostering creativity.
Intentionally placing your plants around your home is mindful living and nurturing your plants as self-care is mindful living. Mindfulness in one area of your will spill over to mindfulness in other areas of your life. Dating mindfully is bringing this awareness and higher consciousness to your relationships. This awareness will positively impact your dating life through higher self-worth and gratitude for the right partner.
What do you think? Do you have any favorite house plants that we missed? We love talking plants, leave a comment below and let us know. We love hearing from you so don’t forget to share your feedback!
- the AND, SWIPE RIGHT team
Did we miss something? Do you have a question? We want to hear from you. Email us with your thoughts, your feedback, and what topics you want to know more about. Reach us at info@andswiperight.com