We are constantly cultivating the Garden of Self deep within ourselves. What we say and do affects the growth of our inner crops. What we plant is what we harvest. I paused to look more closely at the seeds I was planting for the future.
What are you growing in your inner garden?
Any good gardener knows you have to prepare the soil. That means weeding out the old, the unusable and that which is no longer needed. Begin there. Examine your beliefs and expectations to make certain they’re aligned with your dreams and desires.
Taking a reality check includes knowing what you love to do, what you’re willing to do and what you keep putting off. That self-awareness will help you plan a balanced garden.
What do you want to grow in your inner garden?
Good gardeners have a plan. They look at color schemes, bloom dates, and their local climate. And they choose the size of the garden they plant based on the crops they want to harvest and what they can and are willing to care for.
Do the same with your inner garden.
I have let some things go fallow but I don’t want to weed them out. I just want to let them lie dormant for a bit. For instance, vLogs have taken over the space once occupied by my podcast. Short booklets have taken over from longer projects. I allow more space in my inner garden for meditative journeying to explore my invisible self. These choices will affect how much I plant and what crops I’ll harvest.
As there’s only so much time and space, plan your garden to accommodate your time and attention.
Expand the skills you need to cultivate your inner garden
When I learned how to make a vLog, it opened up a new way to communicate and a new audience to reach. The new skill nourishes me both inside and out. What new skills do you need to acquire and plant in your inner garden of the future?
Expand your knowledge of how to grow your inner garden
Growing your inner garden is a personal journey. With each new choice, each new awareness, you’ll need to make adjustments. You may need new skills. You may need to weed out an old pattern. Be fluid and flexible when cultivating your inner garden.
You may explore new spiritual processes and figure out ways to incorporate your version into your practice. You may deepen your understanding by reading a book or taking a course or watching a video online. You may acquire a new skill that creates new opportunities. Use your intellect to explore and your heart to choose what to keep.
Interact with people who make you think in order to nurture your inner garden
The more specialized your crop, the further afield you may have to go to find people who are cultivating a similar crop.
I have developed a small circle of friends who are on paths similar to mine. I speak with them individually on monthly Skype calls. We encourage each other and talk philosophically and in depth about our mutual interests. Each conversation nurtures the seeds of ideas that we are cultivating within each of us and cross-pollinates our ideas.
Who would you like to connect with monthly for a conversation that would enrich and expand you both? Make that connection happen.
What new crop do you want to plant in your inner garden?
You can’t grow everything in your garden. You have to be selective. What crops are you growing that bring out the best in you – your passion, your sharpest skills, your most eloquent self-expression? Do more of that.
Be realistic about your choices. I love to learn and am forever exploring new ideas. But it can become overwhelming. So much so that I sometimes end up doing nothing.
Be realistic about how much time it’ll take you to cultivate and harvest the crops you choose, and adjust your planting selection.
Cultivating your inner garden requires new self-awareness
Not only do we need to be aware of what we plant but we also have to be aware of what we allow to grow in our inner garden. We need to weed out any doubt or idea that doesn’t support our journey.
What do you need in your life? How do you need to change your work habits in order to find balance?
Know what you want to grow and how much of it you’re willing to cultivate. What do you need to change about your inner garden that will increase your value and your impact?
Plant new seeds in your inner garden
Select the seeds that offer the most impact.
As the world moves into the need for a more aligned group consciousness, I’ve become more active in group meditations. I’m more aware of and active in supporting the causes I hold as vital to our planet. I plant the seeds of subtle activism.
The more I read and listen and exchange ideas, the more opportunities I find to explore, the more seeds I want to plant, the more crops I want to harvest. The seeds I plant and cultivate in my inner garden are changing my inner landscape, and that affects my outer world.
What new seeds have you found to plant in your inner garden?
Choose your crops of the future
You have to adjust your crops. I prefer to let my life unfold, but I am actively selecting and planning new seeds that call to me. I allow time for them to ripen so I can see how best to use them. Those ideas that don’t resonate are not tended and they go away. Those ideas that call to me are explored and expanded and shaped into alignment with my passion and strengths.
Whether you’re planting a new crop for the future or weeding out things that you don’t want in your future, tend your inner garden in a manner that nurtures you. Thin out your ideas. Prune overgrown concepts to allow for greater growth. And fertilize and water those ideas and concepts you want to bring forth into your future.
Become a master gardener of your inner self.
To Sing a Deeper Song Consider:
What Do You Need to Leave Behind?
