Think of your favorite flower – a rose, an orchid, a daisy. Looking
into a flower, we can see that it is full of life. It contains soil,
minerals, rain, and sunshine. It is also full of space and time. In
fact, if you look very closely, you might also be able to see that
the whole cosmos is present and reflected in your one little flower.
Without soil, minerals, rain, sunshine, time, and space – the
flower could not grow and would not exist.
Like the flower, we
each contain earth, water, air, sunlight, warmth… life! We also
contain elements of the whole cosmos in our being. We too are
composed and created in space, over time, and contain traces of our
parents, grandparents, ancestors, education, culture, and
environment. It’s an amazing reality to contemplate. What type of
flower or garden we grow depends on a number of many major factors.
Think about this.
Our mind and body is
like a garden and the flowers it contains. Think of the seeds that
are planted in a garden. There are seeds of joy, peace, mindfulness,
understanding, and love. Unfortunately, there are also seeds of
cravings, lust, anger, fear, and hate. What you become depends on
what seeds you plant and water in your garden. If you water a seed of
peace in your mind, peace will grow. If you water the seed of
happiness in your mind, happiness will bloom. When the seed of anger
is watered, you will become angry.
The seeds that are
planted and watered tend to grow and become strong in you – so you
need to be a mindful gardener. You need to selectively water the
seeds of the flowers you want to grow in the garden you will become.
You don’t need to plant and water those seeds that you don’t want
to see grow in the garden that is you. It turns out that gardening is
key to the Art of Living. Again, think carefully about this as you
tend your garden.
This article
basically paraphrases a few excerpts that appealed to me from an
excellent book I recently read called The
Art of Living, by Thich Nhat Hanh.
BTW - If you are interested in gardening, join the Pink Dogwood Garden Club in Summerton, SC, and start living more fully.
BTW - If you are interested in gardening, join the Pink Dogwood Garden Club in Summerton, SC, and start living more fully.
