Nature is my greatest teacher.
I thought I would pass on some of her wisdom this week...
My mind loves to think in metaphors related to the natural world. I wasn’t always this way, yet I believe my patient, curious personality has helped me cultivate this perspective.
It wasn’t until I took a Permaculture Design Course that my mind really started seeing the world in this new way. Permaculture is a way of design that aims to maximize efficiency and minimize effort by mimicking natures loops, it’s mainly used in the context of growing food but it can be applied to all aspects of designing your life. Ultimately this course trained my mind to see nature’s patterns. The patterns of nature are perfect and if you can implement them into your life you will create a perfect loop, that is beneficial for oneself, the planet, and the community.
I continue today looking for the patterns in my life and the world around me. Reflecting and observing is necessary if I want to make sustainable positive change. If you don’t take time to find the root of the problem how can you ever expect to fix it!?
That is my intention: to find the root cause. As a health coach, partner, friend, a leader I want to find the seed that was planted that led to this present situation. As I’ve become more aware of the powerful act planting a seed (physically and mentally) I am inspired to share with you!
Every thought and experience we have lived through either plants a new seed or waters an old seed, therefore making it grow.
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There are good & bad seeds.
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How we understand our life experiences *the mind’s interpretation* results in what kind of seeds are planted. To believe that how you see something is the only way it can be seen is fundamentally incorrect.
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In the book, How Yoga Works, the teacher asks the student what he sees, he sees a bamboo pen. The teacher goes to the window and tosses the object out to the cow who happily eats it. (Don’t worry this story is set in India long ago when pens were basically sticks.)
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The seeds watered in the student’s mind throughout his life reinforced him to view the bamboo stick as a pen and only a pen.
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Yet, this is NOT true.
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The cow did not see it as a pen so how could it ONLY be a pen?
You can see that it is the seeds planted previously in the student that have shaped his worldview.
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When you are in a painful moment, you can’t just wish it away, or try to cope with it in the same way life has already shown you in the past doesn’t work...that would be a negative pattern, an inefficient approach that creates more work.
You can’t put your hand on a fallen mango tree and push it back into the ground..it’s too late.
You must tend to the mind’s garden at Seed Level. Tend the seeds before they are too large.
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The student realizes:
“Since EVERYTHING works through seeds then we FINALLY have a choice in the matter: we can choose consciously, and purposefully design and build our own future into a garden paradise. We are In Control of what Will Happen in our lives.”
I share this message about planting seeds, designing your garden of life, and constantly reevaluating the patterns in your life because I want you to know that you have the power to heal yourself, the world, and live the fulfilling life of your dreams. AND it requires you to dig in around in the soil of your mind to find the seeds, to choose consciously which to nurture and which to weed.
It is our own minds that will keep watering the seeds of doubt, fear, and excuses that keep us small. Take a step this week beyond this fearful mind and notice what that feels like to consciously choose not to water them (catch yourself making a judgement, refrain from lying, do no harm).
Take another step towards nurturing the good seeds (gratitude, extending generosity, supporting a loved one).
You can’t plant a seed an expect to pick fruit tomorrow. Growing trees takes time, care, and faith in the future.
Planting season is almost here in Florida...who’s ready to plant some seeds!?
I planted this banana tree after I came home from Permaculture course 2 years ago.. Since then this little tree has grown tall helped to produce multiple other trees (bananas aren't actually trees they don't have seeds instead they produce pups which are off-shoots that then grow up). It has taken awhile for the first round of bananas to come in but look at the beautiful bunch on the right and how many banana trees there are now! It was my belief in nature & in the future that with time I would see my planting come to fruition.
Nature has taught me patience, faith, responsibility, and joy!
What seeds are you planting in your life right now? What are you watering?
"Live Dirty, Eat Clean & Green",
Lizzie Shutt
@livewliz
