It has been a good year for my garden. There are seven large square and rectangle boxes that have already produced a variety of fun fruits, vegetables, and herbs such as lettuce, strawberries, and broccoli!
For the past three years, I discovered growing a little of my own food brings me so much joy! I love watching the little seeds grow into full bloom in a feeling similar to motherhood. They grow with patience, soil, and sunlight.
My zucchini also does quite well. This is exciting as I enjoy zucchini, however, I also love tomatoes. Similar to competing siblings, sometimes the yellow flowering zucchini leaves cover up the smaller green tomato leaves. This is important to address because ultimately the plant that receives more sunlight yields a better harvest. Each year, I have to separate these two, remove weeds, and support the tomatoes to grow upwards towards the light.
Interestingly, this is also similar to thoughts in our brain. Imagine your mind as the garden box and the plants as your thoughts.
How is your harvest? Sometimes thoughts grow tall and produce incredible blooms. However, thoughts can also work against us.
Is your garden box crowded? Do you need to pull out a few weeds to support your mind’s growth? Overcrowding negative thoughts or mental tapes can shadow more positive ones that may grow underneath. Just as with random weeds; our thoughts need a gardener to remove them. We do not need to give a “thought weed” much consideration if it is not helpful. Just pull it out! (Bolte Taylor)
Similarly, sometimes our garden boxes can become too busy with one activity that it affects others. For example two years ago, I noticed my zucchini’s dominance was affecting its own growth. One day it just stopped producing.
Almost like the zucchini was burned out.
I tried to trouble shoot. Maybe watering more would help. That made no difference. I discovered it was actually the zucchinis big leaves that were crowding out itself!
The zucchini was getting in its own way and needed a few “boundaries” put in place. I decided to prune it back a little and give it space to “recharge.”
Interestingly, my herb box grew in a different way. The plants grew taller towards the sun. These herbs actively sought out their own sunlight and soared.
If your mind’s garden box is overcrowded how can you create more opportunities for your its sunlight?
Try to weed a negative thought or prune back something that may be leading to burn out. It’s okay to set boundaries, or as I like to call them “fences” around our garden.
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