Archive for category: Inspiration

By Dr Nikki Judge

Continuing with our sub-section on nurturing this week we will focus on three very important factors for both the summer gardener and the gardener of the soul:  patience, kindness, and thinning. Each of these aspects of tending a garden of any type is integral to the garden’s success.

Patience (with ourselves, with others and with situations)

The hobby gardener knows that patience is required when working in their garden.  In the physical garden the gardener has to show patience waiting for the right time to mulch, cultivate or weed.  Through the exercise of patience the gardener knows their plants and what the needs of the plants are.  The gardener learns the individual plants and can better tend them for it.

One of the things we forget to apply to ourselves a lot of the time is patience.  In the Spiritual Garden of the Soul it is important that we apply patience to ourselves as well as granting it to others.  Sometimes we need to exercise patience and give ourselves time to think something through, sometimes it is being patient with ourselves when we are learning a new skill, sometimes it is taking the time to really exercise patience and allow our plans time to come to fruition.

The final factor of patience we need to be aware of in our Spiritual Garden of the Soul and that is patience extending outside of ourselves:  having patience with others and with situations outside of ourselves.  We’ve all been there – that situation where there wasn’t a darn thing we could do but be patient and let it play out; that traffic jam we have no control over requires our patience as well.  The soul that understands patience is truly blessed.

Kindness With Self (being kind may also mean being clinical)

The gardener knows when it is time to take a break and rest sore muscles, pacing themselves so that they are able to continue to care for their garden in the way they want to.  In the Spiritual Garden of the Soul it is important that we are kind with ourselves.  That is not to say that we should be turning away from the lessons we have earned for ourselves.  Sometimes a clinical review is the kindness we need to extend to ourselves.

When something goes wrong in the garden the gardener gets very clinical and has a checklist to go through.  Are there bugs?  Are there molds?  Is the soil ok?  What about the water?  Is there the right amount of light?  When something goes wrong in our lives we should take the time to take a step back and, as best we can, remove the emotionality of the event and see why it happened.  Did we miss warning signs?  Where could we have made other choices?  Were we dealing with people in an appropriate manner?  By being a little clinical with ourselves we can, like the backyard gardener who learns tricks of how to care for the garden, we can find ways to keep the same issues from repeating in our lives.

Thinning (letting people in to different levels)

Out in the garden are lots of beets and carrots growing.  The gardener makes sure to thin these plants at the appropriate time so that the plants have room to grow.  Plants need appropriate space between each other to grow healthy and strong.  While a nearly overgrown garden looks lush, it is the regulated garden that allows the light of the sun to more of the plant and allows for enough room for the plants to grow.  The properly spaced garden normally bares larger and more vegetables.

In our Spiritual Garden of the Soul we may need to do some thinning in our lives.  Sometimes we grow apart from friends, a little space from a neighbor or coworker would be a welcomed relief, there’s that family member that seems to be a walking talking ball of negativity.  Or a myriad of other descriptions of people who just seem to be rubbing us the wrong way!

Think of personal energy as a bulls eye target.  The innermost circle is us.  The rest of the circles are the various levels of trust and connection we have with others.  Those in our lives may ebb and flow as to whether they are closer or further from our center at one time or another; we can choose how close or how far we are keeping someone and how much we are allowing them to influence us.

Next week we’ll complete our subsection on Nurturing our Spiritual Garden of the Soul with a focus on weeding, choosing courses of actions, and pruning.

By Dr Nikki Judge

With the knowledge that the “right” garden is the one that is right for you, now it is time to return to the gardener and their work at planting.  While many of us hobby gardeners indulge in Darwinian Gardening (getting the soil ready and then throwing the seeds in and letting nature figure it out) the gardener who is looking for a rich and bountiful garden knows that planting plants at the proper time and in the right place are paramount to success.  Plus planting requires a whole different set of tools than have been used up to now while we were in the planning and preparing stages of gardening.

Timing

The good gardener knows the proper time for planting the different types of plants in the garden.  Some are timed to grow in the cool of spring and maybe again in the fall (beets), some need the heat of the full summer sun to bring forth the vegetables to grace the summer table.  We also have to look at timing in our Spiritual Garden of the Soul. In our Spiritual Garden are we making sure that we capitalize on our precious moments?  Are we making sure that we are aware of the importance of time to others?  Are you utilizing the opportunities to be able to see the appropriate times for you to act?

Location

Much energy and forethought are given to the location the gardener selects for each type of plant in the garden.  Peas are placed where they receive the early morning light (brain storming and new thought processes), corn takes center stage to get all the sun possible and the same with tomatoes (emotions and passions).  Onions do better in well drained soil on the high side of the garden while the leafy greens are always placed where they will receive the best water and full sun (romance and love).  We also need to choose the proper location for the components of our Spiritual Garden of the Soul.  The ability to be able to choose the proper location for the components of the garden gives us the ability to decide whom and how close we allow others in our lives.

Using the Right Tools

The right tool for the right job can make all the difference in the world.  While a shovel is a great tool for moving dirt, it’s not nearly as good as a pitchfork when it comes to pitching hay.  From a planting dibble to the farm tractor, having the right tool for the job is an important part of the gardener’s success.  We too need the right tools in our Spiritual Garden of the Soul.  We need to make sure that we are equipped with the proper tools to be able to create a bountiful harvest for ourselves in our Inner Gardens.

Whatever those tools may be:  friends, education, intuition, foreshadowing, a place for personal introspection and reflection, processes to deal with difficult situations or actions, these are all tools for our garden.  What tools do you need to make YOUR Spiritual Garden of the Soul the perfect place for you?  You can build tools like a support system (friends or family to help you when you’re down), coping mechanisms (ways to deal with the things that are difficult for you to deal with) and more.

Just as the gardener uses the right tools for each of the jobs in the garden to create a place of beauty and bounty you can build a great toolbox of tools to help you create a life that is filled with joy, happiness and laughter!

Next week we’ll begin the part that most of us need the most help with – nurturing YOUR Spiritual Garden of the Soul.

After the gardener has tilled their garden they still are not quite ready to start the planting.  Final preparations of the soil are needed.  Many gardeners spread compost over the garden prior to tilling.  If there is old growth it needs to be pulled and thrown into the compost pile so that the breaking down of materials in the compost pile will help to feed the soil when this working compost is tilled into the garden next year.  This way the gardener knows that nutrients are being returned to the soil in a way that enables the plants to grow healthy and strong.

Composting The Old: The compost pile – yes – that pile of odoriferous sometimes steamy stuff in the back of grandma’s garden – has a spiritual connection as well.  Just as the compost pile has an important part in the garden, we have our compost in our Spiritual Garden of the Soul.  A compost pile stinks frankly because things are rotting, what was once living is now dead and breaking down.  But it is from the nutrients created in that breaking down and rotting that helps create the fertile environment of the gardener’s soil.

The negativity we encounter during a day, our fears, our doubts, and more are so much compost in our lives.  Just as what is thrown into the compost pile ends up serving a valuable service for the healthy garden, we must properly learn to deal with the compost of our lives.  We all have a Spiritual Compost Pile!  It’s where we keep all those fears, doubts, and loneliness; our failures and unrealized but broken dreams.  These create our spiritual compost pile.

Reviewing Your Past Results: Just as the farmer has to turn the compost and stir up  the various peelings, rotting veggies, half eaten fruit (and other things that can no longer be identified) to have the compost ready for the garden, we need to review our successes. Yes – it’s always fun to review what comes out right and it is a great way to get successful results again; however, we can also learn much, if not more, through our mistakes and missteps.  Looking over them is important.  But getting stuck and dwelling on those issues- maybe not so much!

There is a big difference between dwelling on a mistake and looking at it to see where the lesson is.  It is much easier to remove the negativity that is brought into our Garden of the Soul with doubts and fears.  While some doubts and fears are normal the problems arise if we hold on to them too long.  Much like the gardener who isn’t mindful of how big the compost pile is getting, our Garden of the Soul can become overrun with negative thoughts, doubts and fears, inadequacies and, a feeling of disconnect from the human race (others) and our faith.

Making Room for the New: The good gardener keeps a sharp eye on the compost pile.  Even the pleasant distraction of a visit from family for a few days can mean totally altered compost pile once you return to your gardening duties. Adjustments must be made and some of the kitchen veggie scraps may need to be withheld for a time so that the new matter doesn’t overrun the pile and change its chemistry.  With a judicious eye the gardener watches the compost pile to make sure it doesn’t outgrow its appointed space; that its chemistry is kept to the right Ph level; adding other components such as dirt; making sure that that the right things are kept for the compost bucket, and that the trash is thrown out as it should be.

In our Garden of the Soul we need to make sure we are good gardeners as well!  Once we have looked at an issue or problem we have experienced it is time to forgive ourselves the mistake (if there is one), take the lesson, incorporate it as we go forward and, most importantly, gently let go of any additional negativity the event has brought us.

Just as the gardener has to be judicious about what is kept for compost and what is thrown in the trash, we have to be as well.  In order to truly be able to release that part of the experience which no longer serves us we have to know what part from the experience does serve us.  By an honest review and judicious reflection we are able to discern which is which.  Once that is done we can release our limitations and grasp our future with both hands.

Join us next week as we move into every gardener’s favorite season- planting!