By Dr Nikki Judge
This week marks the completion of our series on cultivating the garden of your soul. We started twelve weeks ago with the stages of initial planning, review and decisions and have gone through the entire process of cultivating a strong Spiritual Garden of the Soul.
It is easy for the gardener. The fruits of their labor are literal. For the Spiritual Gardener of the Soul the results of efforts may take a little time to be evident.
Results can come in phases:
The gardener has been harvesting a little here and a little there out of the garden all along the way. First it was the radishes, then the peas, then the beans, lettuces, spinaches, chard; all have been being harvested in their own time for the best taste and freshness. Thus the gardener has enjoyed the results of his efforts for much of the summer.
In our Spiritual Garden of the Soul we may not see immediate results from the tending of our garden. However, we should be seeing small things here and there that show us things are changing. Most change and advancement does not come immediately… it comes after application of determined effort and energy. But, once the change and advancement happens, a true harvest is obtained.
A well tended garden increases it’s bounty over time:
Now that the growing season is coming to a close for most of the residents in the neighborhood garden, the gardener is already removing dead vegetation, turning soil, and adding manure to help feed the soil for next year’s crop. Compost from the compost heap is thrown over the parts of the garden that have been cleared. By starting right away the gardener is ensuring that the next spring planting will have the best chance of success.
In our Spiritual Garden of the Soul we should be seeing how the successes and positives that make the flowers and fruit of our garden form a framework from which we can move onward, secure in the knowledge that we are moving forward and making headway in the direction we want to go. Our lives are made up of building blocks and through the work we have done in our garden we have made ourselves stronger and given ourselves an even more solid foundation to launch our next venture from.
Lifelong benefits:
Knowing how to garden is like knowing how to fish. For the gardener the lifelong benefits from gardening are better health promoted by eating properly, the satisfaction of knowing he/she knows how to raise food to put on the table. Knowing how to garden and raise food gives a sense of independence and determination to the backyard gardener. Hence, besides better health from the physical activity of gardening, the gardener feels empowered and can help his neighbors.
In our Spiritual Garden of the Soul we can see where the choices we have made are making changes in our lives. Some are only small little things like trying to smile more while others are huge – such as whether to move or not. Through developing your Spiritual Garden you have created a place to go to be able to review the life you are living and if you are living true to yourself.
Final Thoughts:
We are the gardeners of our lives – both physical and spiritual. Through being active gardeners in our Spiritual Garden of the Soul, through facing our fears and accepting our wins and failures we can create the life we hope to have. It is through reviewing our past for successes and failures, aligning our goals, dreams and needs, taking time to find out who we are, connecting with our physical self, making room for the new, and making the choices that truly reflect what we desire that we can move our lives forward toward a successful future.
