Transformation Deep Down

Yesterday I received a newsletter that I subscribe to and spent some time actually reading it !   I so enjoyed this write up on gardening and it's analogy to our lives.  Enjoy !

In the preparations, in the turning of the soil, the planting, the tending, and yes, the waiting, for many there comes a sense of peace, of oneness, that often is lacking in other parts of our lives. These small steps (and not so small, if there is much to be done to prepare the garden!) give space for the mind to roam, for seeds of thoughts perhaps long since planted to germinate and start to grow as well. Something about the fresh air, the sunlight, the immersion in nature seems to invite introspection

We each have our own seeds, ideas or thoughts that we’ve gathered along the way, perhaps a teaching we’ve read, something we wanted to learn, or change about ourselves, perhaps something less well defined, a way of seeing the world, or a new perspective to contemplate. These seeds, too, need to be given the care and patience that we give to those in our gardens.

Consider what a seed requires to germinate and take root. The right environment, a place that is fertile and that can provide a safe home for the seed, someplace for roots to sink down, a place where nourishment can be drawn up those roots. It requires warmth and light, which encourage the new seedling to the surface, to break through the darkness and, firmly anchored, to grow. And time, because while some seeds can be forced, most will emerge only when they are ready.

How much of the above can be applied to ourselves, when new seeds have been planted in our minds? If we are receptive and ready, we provide that nurturing environment, and slowly roots form, and those seeds, of teachings, of new experiences, of new ways of looking at the world or of being within it, slowly grow and come into the light. Often that happens without us ever thinking about it. The transformation occurs deep down, and until the seedlings break through, we may not have an awareness of what has been growing within until suddenly it is simply there. Other times, though, we know that seed has been planted, and, like the seeds sown in our freshly turned gardens, we want so much to see the growth right away. The hardest thing to do is to wait for it to grow in its own time.

It may be that, in the joyous return of spring, in nature and in the work that we can choose to see as drudgery or as a gift of time, within a place of calm and peace, we can find the inspiration that will make it possible to nurture and welcome those seeds that have been planted deep within, while we eagerly anticipate the new growth bringing beauty and fullness to our gardens.
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Cori Dusmann is a writer and educator living in Victoria, BC. She is a regular contributor to Quill and Quire Magazine, and her pieces have also been published in the Globe and Mail, The National Post and the Vancouver Sun.
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I hope you are tending to the garden of your own life !

Alice