Tending your garden

My wife and I have decided to give our garden a facelift this spring, but I am not here to give gardening advice. However, in digging up overgrown flowerbeds, I found networks of roots of unwanted plants intertwined with plants that I wanted to keep. It reminded me of the networks in our brains and the thoughts and beliefs we store there. Good mental health or a resilient and productive mind can be a lot like tending to your garden. 

The focus of my coaching work has always been on helping people overcome beliefs and thinking habits that stand in the way of their success and happiness. Even when we “weed out” negative thoughts we may still have deep-rooted beliefs that may sprout unhelpful thoughts or harmful strategies triggered by something in our environment.  It reminds me of the bamboo that I thought I had finally rid my garden of last year only to find that this week new shoots have sprung up far from where the plant originally was. 

Neville Goddard, who was a sort of motivational speaker and writer of his day, wrote an article in 1954 titled “The Pruning Sheers of Revision”. In this article, Goddard recommends a daily practice where at the end of each day one should review the events of the day and then imagine unwanted outcomes did not happen. Instead, he encouraged people to imagine the positive outcomes we had wanted.  Goddard saw it as life's purpose to “tend to the garden of God.”  That is to say, he believed that by creating an optimal mental state we could create an optimal outer world.  

What we think and believe is at the root of all of our actions and perceptions. If want to live a good and productive life and indeed create a life that is good for us and those around us, we need to tend to the garden that is our mind. Awareness is the key here. To draw from the process proposed by Neville Goddard, we can end each day by reviewing the actions and perhaps the strategies we employed during the day. With everything that we experienced, what thoughts were triggered?  What strategies can we recognise and which beliefs are these based on?  This can point to what changes are needed or which thoughts need to be weeded out. 

Just like nurturing plants, nurturing the mind and cultivating positive thoughts and beliefs takes time and practice.  Only with awareness and practice will you achieve the change that you want.  No quick fixes or life hacks can substitute this process to achieve lasting change. 

The blueberry bushes I planted a few weeks ago will not bear fruit before next summer and the Magnolia that I planted will take years to become the beautiful blossoming tree that we hope for.  Be conscious of the seeds you are planting and the kind of garden you are cultivating in your mind.  Over time this will help you develop into the person you strive to be and grow the amount of happiness you experience.