I have a fairly poor attempt at meditating most days…I say ‘fairly poor’ because I have never, in 36 years of meditating, actually achieved that ‘perfect silence’ for much more than a millisecond! It’s my version of meditation, where pictures form, words float in and quite often words line themselves up, vying for my attention!
The pictures I received earlier this week were all about sowing seeds in my garden. I found myself choosing, with care, which seeds to plant this year, based upon what I had grown successfully last year.
Much as I do enjoy a challenge, I went a step too far last year – it was my first year owning a proper vegetable patch AND a greenhouse, so I went to town – I think we had 16 tomato plants and our courgettes were rampant. Beetroot worked well, carrots and parsnips less so…raspberries were late developers but came through in the end, peppers were a bit of a disaster and the slugs loved the cucumbers!
The point is, I sowed seeds for everything last year because I wanted to try new things! My enthusiasm was boundless, in February last year, when growing everything under the sun seemed like a great idea. Whilst it was fun, it was also very time consuming and quite exhausting on occasions…and I didn’t harvest as much as I expected, because I was spreading my time and energy too thinly!
So this year, I am being more discerning and choosing my seeds more carefully: What grew well? What did we actually enjoy harvesting? What one or two things would I like to stretch myself by growing this year? Where could I make improvements to my gardening skills? And what do I just need to avoid this year?
Of course, my gardening experiences mirror my life, so as I sow my seeds for 2017, I am applying the same discernment.
How can you be more discerning and ensure your time and energy are focused on the things you look forward to harvesting later in the year?