Spring is here, Spring is here!!!! What are you going to plant this year? Flowers? Shrubs? Vegetables? Blueberries? Resentment? Anger? Suffering? Happiness? Acceptance? Gratitude? Joy?
We've all heard the saying "we reap what we sow". What if we thought of our souls as a garden? We have many seeds there. So many emotions all vying for our attention, all calling out, "Tend to me! Tend to me!". So how do we tend to these emotions without being defined by them? How do we accept them as what they are, as part of who we are, without it becoming everything we are?
If you were to plant a garden, what is the first thing you would do? Probably decide what to plant and where to plant it. We think hard about our choices. Do we want tomatoes and, if so, how many plants and what varieties? How many may depend on the amount of space you have for your garden. What varieties are a matter of personal preference. You are making choices around what you deem an appropriate reward for your efforts. After all, if you want lots of tomatoes, you will need to spend more time prepping a larger space than for a few...and you have deemed it worth it! You choose what seeds you want to nurture and you prep to give them the most fertile ground in which to grow.
We have now tilled our garden and planted our seeds. We have tomatoes and cucumbers. We have fertilized and watered them religiously. We look forward to our daily check-in to see the progress of our seeds and, before we can even see them sprouting, we have faith that they are there, below the surface, growing strong. We know this with certainty because we are tending to them, caring for them, giving them a healthy environment in which to grow. We become excited the first day we see the little green shoots pushing up through the dirt. We celebrate this small accomplishment. We bring our family and friends out and point to them, get down on our knees, "See, SEE it?!". This small, barely visible sign encourages us to continue with our nurturing.
One day we visit our garden and...wait, "what is THAT?!" we think. "I didn't plant that...where are all these weeds coming from??? I've done everything possible to promote a safe and nurturing environment for my garden and now I have weeds?"
What would happen if we didn't see the weeds and continued to go through the motions of watering and feeding our garden? Before we know it, the weeds would have taken over and we wouldn't be able to even see these beautiful plants we cared for so lovingly. We get frustrated and walk away. We blame the weeds. We say we did everything right but those damn weeds came and took over. That familiar feeling comes over us: fear of failure...
No, no, no! Let's re-write that ending! We are aware of everything going on in our garden so we see the weeds as soon as they pop up. We recognize our beautiful plants from the weeds and we know what will happen if we try and ignore the weeds. So we don't ignore the weeds. We tend to them and we know we have to tend to them thoroughly. If we simply grab them from the top and pull, trying to rush through it because it's not our favorite part of gardening, they will come back with a vengeance. That which we resist, persists! So we must tend to the weeds with the same attention to detail as we did with our vegetables. We have to recognize the weeds, acknowledge that they are weeds, and pull them tenderly yet firmly from the roots, being careful not to disturb our beautiful vegetable plants. We carry the weeds away and consciously discard of them outside of our garden. We let them go and we do not pick them back up. Having had their due attention and being removed from our garden, they wither and die. We probably will not give them much more thought once we have "processed" them because we have dealt with them and discarded them. Bye-bye!
We are now more experienced gardeners because of our weeds. We have now learned how to recognize the weeds and will catch them earlier from here on out. As our garden grows and vegetables blossom, there is less room for the weeds. Oh they still pop up from time to time, but now we know how to "nip them in the bud" and move on. Our early recognition and thorough processing of the weeds results in a stronger garden full of beautiful vegetables.
Now our vegetables are growing strong and we know how to "handle" the weeds when they come (and we know that they will come!). Ah, but alas, we are humans and sometimes find it hard to be satisfied. We are impatient for our harvest. We have worked hard and we are ready to reap our reward. We want some tomatoes only to find that our cucumbers are ready. Do we yell at our tomatoes to hurry up? Do we eat the tomato before it is ripe and then blame the tomato for not tasting good? No, we nurture and wait with great anticipation while enjoying and appreciating the cucumbers we have grown. We are patient and we have faith because we have done the work, and continue to do the work to nurture our garden.
What does this have to do with Our Soul Garden? Go back and replace "vegetable, tomato and cucumber" with "peace, love, joy, gratitude, happiness" and replace "weeds" with "anger, fear, suffering, sorrow, pain".
We reap what we sow in our soul garden. What seeds are you nurturing?
We've all heard the saying "we reap what we sow". What if we thought of our souls as a garden? We have many seeds there. So many emotions all vying for our attention, all calling out, "Tend to me! Tend to me!". So how do we tend to these emotions without being defined by them? How do we accept them as what they are, as part of who we are, without it becoming everything we are?
If you were to plant a garden, what is the first thing you would do? Probably decide what to plant and where to plant it. We think hard about our choices. Do we want tomatoes and, if so, how many plants and what varieties? How many may depend on the amount of space you have for your garden. What varieties are a matter of personal preference. You are making choices around what you deem an appropriate reward for your efforts. After all, if you want lots of tomatoes, you will need to spend more time prepping a larger space than for a few...and you have deemed it worth it! You choose what seeds you want to nurture and you prep to give them the most fertile ground in which to grow.
We have now tilled our garden and planted our seeds. We have tomatoes and cucumbers. We have fertilized and watered them religiously. We look forward to our daily check-in to see the progress of our seeds and, before we can even see them sprouting, we have faith that they are there, below the surface, growing strong. We know this with certainty because we are tending to them, caring for them, giving them a healthy environment in which to grow. We become excited the first day we see the little green shoots pushing up through the dirt. We celebrate this small accomplishment. We bring our family and friends out and point to them, get down on our knees, "See, SEE it?!". This small, barely visible sign encourages us to continue with our nurturing.
One day we visit our garden and...wait, "what is THAT?!" we think. "I didn't plant that...where are all these weeds coming from??? I've done everything possible to promote a safe and nurturing environment for my garden and now I have weeds?"
What would happen if we didn't see the weeds and continued to go through the motions of watering and feeding our garden? Before we know it, the weeds would have taken over and we wouldn't be able to even see these beautiful plants we cared for so lovingly. We get frustrated and walk away. We blame the weeds. We say we did everything right but those damn weeds came and took over. That familiar feeling comes over us: fear of failure...
No, no, no! Let's re-write that ending! We are aware of everything going on in our garden so we see the weeds as soon as they pop up. We recognize our beautiful plants from the weeds and we know what will happen if we try and ignore the weeds. So we don't ignore the weeds. We tend to them and we know we have to tend to them thoroughly. If we simply grab them from the top and pull, trying to rush through it because it's not our favorite part of gardening, they will come back with a vengeance. That which we resist, persists! So we must tend to the weeds with the same attention to detail as we did with our vegetables. We have to recognize the weeds, acknowledge that they are weeds, and pull them tenderly yet firmly from the roots, being careful not to disturb our beautiful vegetable plants. We carry the weeds away and consciously discard of them outside of our garden. We let them go and we do not pick them back up. Having had their due attention and being removed from our garden, they wither and die. We probably will not give them much more thought once we have "processed" them because we have dealt with them and discarded them. Bye-bye!
We are now more experienced gardeners because of our weeds. We have now learned how to recognize the weeds and will catch them earlier from here on out. As our garden grows and vegetables blossom, there is less room for the weeds. Oh they still pop up from time to time, but now we know how to "nip them in the bud" and move on. Our early recognition and thorough processing of the weeds results in a stronger garden full of beautiful vegetables.
Now our vegetables are growing strong and we know how to "handle" the weeds when they come (and we know that they will come!). Ah, but alas, we are humans and sometimes find it hard to be satisfied. We are impatient for our harvest. We have worked hard and we are ready to reap our reward. We want some tomatoes only to find that our cucumbers are ready. Do we yell at our tomatoes to hurry up? Do we eat the tomato before it is ripe and then blame the tomato for not tasting good? No, we nurture and wait with great anticipation while enjoying and appreciating the cucumbers we have grown. We are patient and we have faith because we have done the work, and continue to do the work to nurture our garden.
What does this have to do with Our Soul Garden? Go back and replace "vegetable, tomato and cucumber" with "peace, love, joy, gratitude, happiness" and replace "weeds" with "anger, fear, suffering, sorrow, pain".
We reap what we sow in our soul garden. What seeds are you nurturing?
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