The other day I stopped by to talk with one of our neighbors who was out working her garden. Linda is a wonderful gardener and her garden is always a source of joy and inspiration to me. This particular day, Linda had flats of different flowers she was planting in different areas of her garden.
It was a fun process to watch because she obviously knew what she was doing and she had a specific plan as to where she wanted each kind of flower to go. Her body language conveyed that she truly loved working in her yard and she seemed to get great enjoyment out of preparing each bed with the right kind of soil and fertilizer so that each plant would have the greatest likelihood of surviving and thriving.
As I watched her work, I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between taking care of a garden and taking care of ourselves. Each aspect of a garden needs something a little different to flourish. Some plants may need sunlight, some may need shade. If you have moss in your lawn you use a certain kind of fertilizer and if you want to get rid of weeds you use another. Some plants grow better with lots of water and some don’t need so much.
Most of us are pretty good at figuring out what our garden needs, and if we don’t know we can always ask the person at the nursery. Unfortunately, unlike plants, we don’t come with a tag around our neck describing our unique growing requirements. We are left to figure that out for ourselves.
Do you know what nourishes you? Do you know what is it that recharges you and reconnects you to the world? If you are not sure, take some time and think about what kinds of things nurtures you on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. What kind of environment do you need to not only survive, but to truly thrive?
The answer may take some digging because we live in a society that doesn’t always reinforce self-care. Focusing on ourselves can often translate into being selfish and self-absorbed. However, I am inviting you to challenge that belief.
It is not selfish to take care of ourselves; for when we are at our best, we perform better at our jobs, we are more present with our friends and family and we are just generally more fun to be around.
Think about the apple tree that produces such a wonderful fruit. If the tree is neglected and not properly fertilized, pruned, and watered, it will wither and die and no longer produce apples, its special gift to the world.
We are like the apple tree. If we want to be able to continue producing fully in all aspects of our lives, we have to take the time to care for and nurture ourselves. We need to discover what our individual “Miracle Grow” is, and then make sure that we always have at least a little bit of that Miracle Grow in our life, so that we can live our life to its fullest and produce the unique gifts that only we can give to the world.
"We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented , fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be?" Marianne Williamson
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