Cultivation

I took the day off of work today and gifted myself some space and time to just be.

No work or email or online miscellaneous (until now 😉 ).

No chores, no lists.

I made an agreement with myself to do nothing I didn’t want to do.

Faced with this freedom, I spent the early hours of the morning in the garden, tending to the corn, pushing a few bush beans and sunflower seeds into the soil…

Feeling the sun on my back, the breeze through my hair, the soil on my skin.

I pulled weeds and left some purslane, checked the germination of Bolita beans and winter squash, watched pollinators come and go, and listened to the birds sing their songs of summer in the trees and flying overhead.

It’s amazing what happens to ones mind and heart when the daily distractions are removed…

When one is allowed to just be.

I began thinking about the cultivation of my small patch of earth as a meditation…

I gave myself permission to let my thoughts and feelings come and go instead of holding on to them.

I reflected on people, places, and things past and present…

On the impact of each experience…

Moments profound and benign that have all brought me to this day/hour/moment in time.

I fantasized about the future…

Where I (we) want to be in relation to where I am (we are) right now.

I allowed the possible scenarios of getting from Point A to Point B play through my mind without worry or attachment.

And I contemplated the cultivation of the soil and the seeds and the corn…

And the cultivation of my own mind, body, and soul.

I lingered on the importance of self-care and the necessity to live life on purpose, instead of by default…

And how default happens when one allows for the busy-ness of life to take over and how awful that feels.

And I pulled weeds and watched the sun and kept tabs on the temperature of the morning in relation to the temperature of my body and when I couldn’t see straight anymore because the sweat of my brow just wouldn’t stop dripping into my eyes, I called it a morning and headed inside where it was much cooler and so very welcoming.

And so, while I can’t take a day off of work every day to contemplate my existence and my place on the Planet, I hope to take moments from today into each of my tomorrows…

To check in and slow down and be present and live with intention instead of…

Well…

The alternative.

Who knew one could find such magic in the garden?

xoxo,
M