So far in our series on Spring Cleaning, we’ve been staying inside the house and inside ourselves. Today we’re going to venture out into the garden. If you don’t have a garden, then just venture outside, and imagine if you need to. And when it comes to ourselves, we’re going to be talking about our external environments – the things outside ourselves.
What’s Growing in Your Garden?
When we tend to our gardens or our environments, they tend to take care of us. They can be beautiful, nourishing, and enjoyable.
However, when we ignore or neglect our gardens and the environments in our life, they can start growing unsightly weeds and they become more work.
Oftentimes our gardens or environments are somewhere in between. There are parts of them that we take care of, and other parts we ignore. There are times we are good about paying attention to them, and other times that we neglect that responsibility.
Why is the Garden Important?
The reality is that whatever we’re cultivating in our gardens and environments we’re welcoming into our life.
You can’t expect beautiful flowers to bloom or nourishing food to grow if you don’t take care of it. The same is true for you. You can’t expect to be happy, healthy and wealthy (to take a phrase from fellow coach Jim Bunch) if you’re not creating environments that sustain those things.
What Do You Want to Grow?
So in order to create the garden and the environments that support you, the first step is to know what you want to grow.
The second step is to create a plan to make it happen.
The third step is to do the actions to make it happen.
I know I’ve simplified it, and it can be that simple…but it might not be easy.
For example, if you want peas in your garden, you have to plan it. You need to map out a space for them, you have to get the seeds, you have to sow the seeds, and you have to water them. They will start to grow and eventually you will have peas. It is not instantaneous, but it’s worth the effort.
If you want peace in your life, figure out what that looks like for you. Most of us know readily and can easily describe what it does not look like, but can you describe what it does look like, how it feels, and what would contribute to those things?
Take a moment to think about that, and then make a list of the things you can do to bring that peace in your life. Like growing peas, it’s not an instantaneous result, but a process.
You’ll have to look at your environments and eliminate things that don’t bring you peace (perhaps negative people in your life) and add in things that do.
Remember…Growth takes time…
I know you can just go to the store and buy peas, but you can’t just go to the store and buy peace. You might be able to buy bits of it – perhaps a day at a spa, time to read a book, a date night with your loved one – but it’s a continual process.
Peas will grow, be picked and eaten, and the cycle starts over. Peace within you is the same way. Some days it will be easy, other days not so much. The key is to keep cultivating what you want in life, and weeding out what you don’t.
So take a moment to share with me – what do you want to cultivate, and what will you weed out?
Now imagine yourself in that garden. Isn’t it beautiful?
