Yes, this is my very own garden and I’m ashamed to say that I let it get overgrown this past year!  As I am preparing for spring planting, the garden has been overrun by weeds, stifling out any fruit bearing plants that volunteered themselves from last year’s seeds.

I am really wanting to plant garden this season, so I was feeling overwhelmed by the work I knew I had ahead of me.  I could hear the chatter in my mind starting to worm its way into my inner dialogue: “Why didn’t I just weed the garden from the beginning?”, “How could I let it get this bad?”, “Other people in the family should have been helping to maintain the garden!  If they had, it wouldn’t be like this!”, and on and on it went.

 

I find that as experiences arise in my external world, they are often messengers in the great web of life here to teach me how I can bring more balance and more healing into my internal world.  When the inner dialogue starts rambling and the feelings of shame, frustration, guilt and anger start rising, I sense it is an opportunity to pause and reflect.  So how was my garden speaking to me now?  

In our healing path, especially in the beginning, we can be overwhelmed by the task ahead of us.  The areas in our life that are hurting and calling to be healed can be as thick as the weeds in the garden above, and sometimes we don’t know where to begin.  The truth is, there is no “right” place to begin.  You pick a spot and just start.   

As you are pulling the weeds, you may find certain tools come to mind that make the job more efficient.  Gloves, a shovel, and a bucket perhaps.  I equate this to the different spiritual tools one can utilize along their healing path:  meditation, yoga, art, journaling, reading, various healing modalities such as therapy, reiki, shamanic healing, acupuncture, etc.  

You may find some weeds are easier to pull up than others, so you set your sight on loosening those ones first before tackling the deeper roots.  Likewise on our healing path, one may find it easier to begin with the “lighter stuff” before heading into the deeper traumas.

Although my husband did not help me pull up the weeds (he’s an engineer and prefers to tinker in the garage rather than the garden!), he was kind enough to help me move the full bags to the front of the house.  A couple ideas come to mind with this.  First, we are all responsible for clearing our own weeds.  We may not know the origin of every weed the garden, just as we may not have had a say in the traumas we went through or maybe the origin of the pain we feel.  Nonetheless, they are there and we must be the one to take responsibility for their healing.  Secondly, in an energetic sense, the pulled weeds to me represent the energies that no longer serve us after we have uprooted them, healed them.  If we don’t clear them up, these piles will be in our way as we continue the task at hand.  I equate this with taking time for self-care: walks in nature, doing an activity that brings you joy, decluttering your home, etc.  

Gardens are seasonal and after taking the time to clear the weeds this year, I know that more will come next year, and that’s ok.  Some seasons bring more weeds than others.  This is how life is.  We are constantly supported on our path towards growth and healing.  Life springs forth for us endless opportunities to clear our inner weeds disguised as struggles, trials, and heavy emotions.  Some seasons in our life are more difficult than others, and that’s ok.  As you clear, as you heal, and as you grow, so too will your true Spirit within emerge to flourish and bloom and bring the bounty of your gifts to the world.

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