Flower Quiz

Lotus

Every year you send up new stems from the mud and greet the morning with the scent of one big flower.

One big flowerDraw people near with scentStart fresh each year

The lotus is a waterside plant that roots in the mud of ponds and marshes. On summer mornings, it opens a single big flower at the top of a stem held high above the water. The flower is said to open early in the morning and close by midday, repeat this for a few days, and then drop its petals.

Lotus flowers have a fresh, clean scent. Even though they rise out of mud, the leaves and flowers shed dirt, and water beads up and rolls off the leaves. You gather your energy into one thing, and your qualities reach people quietly once they come close.

The underground stems in the mud survive from year to year, but in winter the leaves and stalks die back, and everything above ground starts completely fresh each year. Those underground stems are lotus root, a common food in Japan. A seed about 2,000 years old found in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, once sprouted and flowered. You can start afresh each year — but because of that, you may let go even of what worked well the year before.

Strengths

You can quietly gather your energy into one thing
You can give the people near you your calm, full attention
Even when your surroundings change, you can start afresh

Where you may stumble

Because you focus your energy, you often pass on other invitations
Your qualities only reach those near you, so from afar they're hard to see
You let go even of methods that worked before

Sounds familiar, Lotus?

By the end of the morning, you've already finished the one most important thing of the day
The things you truly love, you show only to people you're close to
Every time you move house, you replace almost everything you own

Where you shine

Time spent calmly focused on one thing, or starting afresh when your surroundings change. Your quiet focus tends to reach the people around you too.

Tips for “Lotus”

Keep a notebook and write down each thing that worked, one line at a time
When you want to share what you value, prepare one way people far off can see it too
Keep days for focusing separate from days for saying yes to invitations

Matches

See every match in the Flower Quiz compatibility chart →

Easy together

Sunflower — The Sunflower also opens one big flower in summer and grows anew every year. Where the Lotus welcomes those nearby, the Sunflower lets people far away know too, in a way they can see.

Easy together

Rose — Like you, the Rose opens big, fragrant flowers and treats those who come close. You're both at your best seen up close rather than from afar, so you're comfortable with the same distance when you talk.

May clash

Hydrangea — The Hydrangea gathers small flowers to show off in color, spreading wider year by year. In every way, it's the reverse of the Lotus and its single, quietly fragrant flower that starts fresh each year. To the Lotus, the Hydrangea's spreading out looks busy; to the Hydrangea, the Lotus's fresh starts look like a waste.