Oooooh! Look! Her feet were walking toward the colourful little packets on the rotating carousal. She could not help it. She was like a kid in a candy store. At this time of year, her thoughts always turned to what she was going to grow in her garden. Here in front of her was a brightly coloured display of all kinds of seeds. Her fingers were flexing, opening and closing, preparing to pick up packet after packet of seeds.
She remembered well when she used to start seeds in her house in time to transplant into the garden when the weather was warm enough.
- All those planters scattered throughout her house
- Vying for the warmth of the sun
- Constant watering
- Rotating the trays
- Transplanting the seedlings into bigger pots
- Acclimatizing them to the outside air
- Finally transplanting them into the garden itself
- Carefully protecting them until they could stand on their own
- Watching them flourish as they drank in the rain, basked in the sun and ate the nourishment from the soil
The elation, the expectation, the enthusiasm were intoxicating.
it was a thrill to anticipate the produce that each little seed would develop into. Her mouth was already watering. Just thinking about the potential of growth gave her a sense of optimism and hope. She was confident that whatever seed she put into the ground she would have more of that to harvest when the time came.
Browsing as she rotated the carousal over and over again, she carefully picked the seeds she wanted to grow in her garden She picked out her favourites and then, just for fun, she picked some things to experiment with. A few hours later she approached the till. Her eyes shining bright, a smile on her lips and a buoyancy in her step. She was ready.
As she walked out of the store with her purchases in the bag, she thought about planting seeds in her life. She wondered about
- What she was already growing and harvesting in her life
- The things she did not like and did not want in her life
- What kind of seeds had been planted
- What made her plant those seeds
- Were they all her seeds
- Or had someone else planted seeds in her life
- What could she do about it
If I want a different crop, I guess I better plant different seeds.
She would have to pick carefully what she wanted to grow in her life. Then, just like the process of growing seeds, she would have to water the seeds, let the sun shine on them, carefully transplant them, protect them until they had become a habit in her life. She needed to be as careful about what she planted in her life and how she nourished it as she did with her garden.
The despair, anxiety and overwhelm she felt about her life was lifted just enough to let in some elation, expectation, and excitement seep in. There was hope. She could do something about how she showed up in this world by planting different seeds in her life. Just like she could plant seeds only in her own garden, because her neighbours did not appreciate her coming into their garden and plant her seeds there, she could only plant seeds in her own life and in her own heart. She could, however, choose whose garden she was going to grow next to.
She sowed a seed on her way to her car by making the decision to reflect on a few things:
- What made her feel despair, anxious and overwhelmed?
- Did she want to continue having despair, anxiety and overwhelm in her life?
- What could she do about it?
- How could she plant seeds of hope, peace and calm into her life?
- How could she nurture and protect those seeds until they took hold in her life?
- What would she need to change if she wanted to harvest hope, peace and calm in her life?
If I want a different crop, I guess I better plant different seeds.