a metaphor in my garden...
(You know how this girl loves metaphors.)
This is our third spring growing a vegetable and herb garden. We've had a couple successful harvests and we're learning what it takes to reap a bounty. This year we found a better sunny spot in our yard. We built a garden box to lift it up from the ground a bit to protect the young plants from unwelcome visitors that sabotage our efforts. We prepared the soil for good things to grow by pulling the weeds. We planted the seeds and tiny plants. (Not everything was from scratch.) Now it is time to nurture the garden and watch it flourish.
I'll admit, my husband is always better about regular watering, weed pulling and checking for invaders. I mostly get very excited to pick the ripe veggies. I vow to put more energy into the efforts this year.
This morning I stood admiring our little plant nursery. What a joyful creative act to cultivate a garden! The energy of all those green things trying to grow out of the earth, strengthening their roots, pushing up their shoots, turning their leaves to the sun. It's inspiring. If they can do it, so can I.
Water, light and air (or nourishment and love) are required by all living things. If we want to bring our dreams to life, a very similar kind of cultivation is required. Just as a garden needs tending to, we must put our attention and energy into our growing dreams if we want to reap a harvest.
Recently a creative seed was planted in me. I haven't shared about it here yet (it hasn't fully sprouted, you see). I'm still preparing the soil and pulling some weeds (those unwelcome doubts, fears and self-critical voices that talk me out of growth), but I can feel the seed coat splitting on my dream. The roots are beginning to take hold of their growing place as the idea strengthens in my mind. I'm nourishing it with attention and waiting patiently for the dream to form strong enough to push up and out into view. Once it does, I will need to nurture it nearly every day, supporting it's growth with baby steps. It's very much a creative process, like cultivating plants.
All the while, I must remember:
"Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
If we expose our dreams to positive energy, they will grow and thrive. There are no insurmountable obstacles standing in the way of my sun. It's mostly my own limiting beliefs that cast shadows on what I think I'm capable of. This is a lesson in getting out of my own way.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, peppers, chives, basil, cilantro, parsley...and big dreams.
That's what's in my garden this spring.
How does your garden grow these days? Do you have seeds stirring beneath the surface?
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