“Your mind is a garden and thoughts are the seeds. You can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.” ~ William Wordsworth
It is mid-summer and that time of the year in England where our gardens are abundantly full of flowers at their peak.
Reflecting back to a few summers ago, our lawn in a corner of our garden, was looking bare and in distress. We had done some work to our garden the previous summer and removed a large shed where the roof had started to leak. As we have been de-cluttering and minimising our home, we found that we didn’t need the extra storage space that our shed gave us. So, instead of replacing the shed we decided to take it down. (It just so happened that the day was the hottest day of the year!)
Anyway, the space that our large shed left was bare, and I wanted to make this a part of our lawn. I sowed grass seeds and diligently watered the patch and looked after it over the summer. This patch of lawn became lusher and greener than the rest of the lawn in the garden! So, I got thinking, what if I scattered grass seeds over the rest of the lawn? Could this help green up the rest of the lawn? I did some lawn care research. I can’t say I have ever researched this before, but what I found was, that gardening experts advise that you should ‘overseed’ your lawn in September to enable new grass to grow. You can also use a natural fertilizer regularly to keep your grass healthy. The thicker and healthier the grass is, the less room there is for weeds to grow.
This takes me back to the quote above. To stop ‘weeds’ (negative self-talk) growing in our mind we need to plant healthy positive thoughts. We need to continue to ‘overplant’ with positive thoughts so little room remains for negative thinking. In time, negativity, anger, resentment and other disempowering thoughts will be replaced by positive and empowering thoughts, but it is important that we spend time regularly cultivating a healthy and positive mindset. It may not be easy at times but working on our mind and making it a friend not a foe is priceless for our mental wellbeing and self-care.
This also links nicely with this wisdom from the Bhagavad Gita:
"Elevate yourself through the power of your mind, and not degrade yourself, for the mind can be the friend and also the enemy of the self. For those who have conquered the mind, it is their friend. For those who have failed to do so, the mind works like an enemy.” Bhagavad Gita 6.5-6.6.
A gratitude journal and meditation can help as well as surrounding yourself with uplifting people. Consciously limiting negative news, replacing it with listening to inspiring podcasts, chanting and using positive affirmations and being in association with devotees can have this effect too.
In summary, we need to practice planting positivity regularly. Happy planting!
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