If you’ve ever grown anything in the ground at all, you know about weeds. Weeds frustrate me. Weeds are my nemesis in the summer months. What do you do when the weeds sprout? Do you pick them all right away or do you wait until they’ve reached a point where they are easier to pull in masses? I’ve done both.
The weed’s durability
I do realize that there are weed killers – mostly chemicals, that people use to kill or prevent the proliferation of weeds. I will not write about that option because it is not one that I, myself, entertain. I do not wish to bring devastation to the other living things – flowers, vegetables, and my children, to name a few, so I am left with my own bare hands. Unfortunately, if you’ve ever met a weed, they certainly have a way to survive in ways that other living things don’t. I find that this is the same with negative thoughts and a fixed mindset.
Our mind’s durability
I know that we can all relate to having thoughts of self-doubt or get fixed in how we look at something or feel about a situation. These negative thoughts or ruminations are like weeds. They grow without any intentional means to grow them and they survive long past the beautiful flowers that grace us with lovely moments of color. Weeds are durable and pesky, just like those harmful thoughts.
Early on
Back to my question of how you handle weeds as they begin to sprout. I noticed weeds early on in my garden this year and bent down with my gloved hands and pulled them like mad, but wasn’t making much of a difference as the weeds were so small and my pinching them to pull them out of the dirt was bringing out more dirt than weed. So, I decided to wait.
If you notice troublesome thoughts beginning to pop up in your daily mind grind, do you address them right away when they are small and quiet? If you pick them up and pull them out, do other beautiful, nourishing parts of you go along with it? Can you pull the weeds and leave the soil and flower seeds unharmed?
Waiting
Let’s say you wait. You wait until your vegetation has started to become rooted and has some sturdy maturity to it. Then, you come back with your gloved hands and start pulling out the tall weeds that now stand to outgrow your striking and beloved work. Dirt still comes along with the weed, but it’s minimal and the weed itself leaves behind a welcoming spot for a different kind of growth, one that you are excited to fill – if not just with more soil.
Negative thoughts are like weeds
How would this work with your negative thoughts? If you waited until the destructive thoughts became large and started to shadow the positive deliberations, would you be able to see them more clearly for what they were – ugly? Would you seek help, plant more self-care, discover the rich love for yourself that surrounds all the affirmative thoughts you’ve had or actions you’ve taken?
There is no way to completely rid our gardens or flower beds of weeds, just as it is impossible to rid ourselves of every negative thought for the rest of time. Just as we are continually seeking ways to become better versions of ourselves and live in a world of adversity, we need to pull the weeds in the gardens we cultivate. Whether you keep them at bay by taking small daily actions or pull them when they are large by taking a two week long vacation focused on nothing but being – no doing, you’ve got to find a way to counter those weeds.
Your self care are the flowers
Perhaps most importantly is how you address the flowers and bright spots in your life. Don’t forget to recognize those pieces of you and provide yourself the time you need to enrich and deepen your roots.
Happy gardening friends 😊
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