Thursday, April 11. 2013
Spring is definitely in the air and we’ve started to get our garden ready to plant some vegetables and flowers in the coming months. Most of us know (either from doing or observing) that in order to create the best environment for the veggies and flowers to grow, first, the soil needs to be prepped. Weeds need to be pulled out, the soil needs to be turned and then fertilized so that when we finally plant our seeds, they have the best foundation for their roots to grow deep and then sprout beautiful flowers and vegetables.
I believe there is something to be said about practicing this in our own lives… the process of cleaning out the cobwebs and weeds of things that have crowded our mind through the winter months. It’s easy to get in a rut in the wintertime, when it’s cold and the days are shorter and we may feel like hibernating. It’s easy to let things that may not be working for us in our career or life fester and take root because we dwell on them. For example, a friend of mine recently shared how she had gotten in such a rut the past 6 months that she stopped working out and taking good care of herself. She was disappointed with how she felt about herself physically but seemed unmotivated to do anything to change her situation. She felt stuck in a rut. I suggested that she begin to create a list of five things every day that she loved about herself. Why? So she could begin to replace all those dead weeds and old cobwebs that had started to take root in her mind with the more productive life giving thoughts that focused on what she loved about herself.
A similar example occurred with a client who is in a career rut. She feels stuck in her job. She has spent most of her time the past 3 months focused on the fact that she feels stuck; there is no room for any career growth to occur because she can’t see past being stuck! She needs to clean out those cobwebs in her mind that keep her focused on being stuck so she can get ready for the growth that can only occur if she cleans out the cobwebs.
When we clean out the weeds in our garden and turn the soil, we create room for new life to grow, and eventually we end up with a beautiful garden. When we clean out the old, negative, energy-draining thoughts from our mind, we create room for new life giving thoughts. This creates life-giving energy that propels us to take action towards the new things we want to create in our lives.
It’s springtime – time to clean out the cobwebs and do some weeding so that you have fresh ground and a solid foundation for new roots to take hold and new life to bloom.
