Tending to your Garden: We're in a time of weeding - But how do you know what is a weed and a flower?
Spring is in full swing…life force is everywhere…things are growing, flowering, springing…birds are singing! Life is or already has gotten very busy again. And yet, we are in the season of eclipses…of change, transformation, and letting go. It's a time, on all fronts, where we can clearly see what is growing and sprouting in our lives, and for the beauty to fully unfold, we have to give it space and attention….nutrition.
Now we can weed out what we don't want and actively choose what deserves our attention and nourishment! This is what is required for you to actually own your own energy. However, this can be challenging for many reasons.
As it is in our garden, it is so in our lives.
Now that things are growing and blooming, we should be able to see:
Things that are contributing to our life and things that are draining and depleting us.
Things that are thriving, and things aren’t.
Things that bring us joy and things that don’t.
What we want more of and what we are ready to weed out of our lives.
Before we go willy-nilly and start pulling things out, we need to consider some issues like:
How do I know what is a weed and what is a flower?
If you've planted new seeds, but you don't really know how it's supposed to look, or maybe you have forgotten what the seedling looks like, how do you differentiate between what to pull and what to nurture? When the time is right?
This is true even in our lives. Sometimes when we start new things, we might not know how they are supposed to roll out or what they are meant to look like, and that is ok! Sometimes, the result we get is different from what we expect, so how do we reconcile our expectations with our results?
My greatest advice is to be patient…you may not know right away what a weed is and what isn't a weed, but soon enough, there will be a blossom you like or a leaf you don't, and it will become clear what to pull and what to nurture. After all, what is the downside to waiting? You have to do a little more work to pull large weeds. And maybe you decide you like some of the weeds and don’t mind keeping them in the mix. Or maybe some of the weeds die off on their own.
You can ask for help from someone more experienced than you. But doing this has its pros and cons because, along with their experience, you will also get their judgment and preference, which may not align with yours. So be clear on what you are asking for and what you are receiving when you seek advice from someone more experienced than you.
What simply needs pruning?
Some plants just need to be trimmed to thrive. At the end of a long winter, it is hard to tell the part of a tree or shrub that is actually dead or the part that is just dormant.
One proven strategy is to prune everything back down to its smallest level. Well, how does this work in our own life?
We pull back on all fronts, then add energy and attention back little by little to see what happens. Even though it seems like a pretty drastic measure to me, sometimes it feels good to conserve your life force and learn how to use it more effectively. It can be a valuable tool.
Another strategy is to be patient and let things grow back as they normally would; then, you can go in and prune the dead bits. This strategy might seem to take time because it needs a lot of patience, but you will know precisely what you are working with instead of doing guesswork.
In life, this means that we must take our time to reflect on issues like;
What has actually died
What needs to be trimmed back
How does a plant/an idea/a desire need to be nourished to thrive?
Discernment - do you still like the plant?
Now that it has grown, or not grown, died a little, come back a little, new things have grown in…are you satisfied? Do you like it? This can happen with creations in our lives.
As THEY grow and evolve or as WE grow and evolve, things may change, and we may have to let things go. AND that is okay because your garden and your life are meant to thrive and flourish!
As a bonus – I am giving you one of my favorite reflection exercises that I created some years ago for one of my workshops.
I LOVE IT and would love to share it with all of you. It is called Tending Your Garden - learning to own your energy.
It is a workbook and a video that guides you through the exercise. It also includes a detailed guide on steps needed to effectively carry out the exercises.
It's a fun and easy way to really start to consciously choose how to direct your energy towards what you want in your life to thrive and how to learn to own your own energy! Check it out, and let me know what you think!