There is something about tending to a garden that feels good at every stage. Whether it’s planting the seeds, pulling the weeds or harvesting the fruits, there is always something to be appreciated.
This month I invite you to use the affirmation, “This is my garden,” to appreciate the process of your life in every stage. Just as in the practice of gardening, we find seasons and cycles in our own lives. Some cycles might move the waters of our bodies, some move our creativity allowing it to flow out or rest within and gather new information. Some cycles help us heal by giving us time to build strength and self-love before bringing us a memory that points to the places in us that need release and new understanding. It is only through cycles that our innate wisdom can be applied to our lives and that our gifts can inspire the world around us.
When we tend to a garden, we have choices. We can focus on the leaves as they begin to spread further from the stalk of the plant and notice the space they are moving into. We can touch the buds, so potent in their color, all wound up, nearly ready to burst. We can focus on the beauty or we can focus on the weeds. Our choice is in our focus.
A weed is simply something that impedes the growth of the plants we’d like to nurture. So, how can we know with certainty which plants are weeds and which plants are worth keeping? How can we be sure in our own minds which beliefs deserve cultivation and which should be released? We bring in the tools of our intuition and logic, of feeling and of questioning, to bring clarity to the spaces in our lives that aren’t growing as we’d like them to or are so overgrown that we can’t be sure what to pull and what to keep.
Bring this affirmation, “This is my garden,” into moments of uncertainty and doubt to shift your focus, own your power which lies in your ability to choose, and choose gratitude for the opportunity to continue to grow. Focus on the flowers and the weeds will wither. There are times in our lives where the sadness and strife are so intense that it feels as if our garden sees nothing but rain. In these times it can be helpful to look lower than the leaves and buds, lower even than the weeds. We can sink like water into the very roots of our being and ask questions there. We can ask what it is that our soil is made of. What is it that nourishes us even when the waters just keep flowing and flowing? What is it that our roots can grab onto, or want to? What creates our security and stability? The deepest and most profound pain we experience brings us back into our roots. Where have we come from? Who are we really? What beliefs stand in the way of those answers? Pull them out. Question and prune.
There is choice in every moment, and so our power is never anywhere but here and now. Remember this affirmation when you identify a desire and know “This is my garden,” “I have every right to its fruits,” “My garden is loved, cared for and will be even stronger next season,” and “If I have little now I will surely have abundance after such a rain, and if my seeds should wash away I’ll simply reach into my bag with more understanding and plant again. There will be enough to eat and enough to share.”
Let the seasons and cycles of your life move you, darling. You deserve abundance, understanding and opportunities to share your uniqueness with this world. I’ll leave you with a line I wrote recently that reminds me that I’m whole: “You’re not missing anything, you’re just growing into something.”
