“In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.” ~Abram L. Urban
Happy New Year and Welcome 2017! During this year, we will be exploring our “garden of life” and examining ways we can plant seeds of change now in order to reap a great harvest by the year’s end.
Many of us make New Year resolutions in January, only to find them waylaid by February. Why is this? We join gyms, begin diets, quit smoking, and attempt to reduce stress in our lives. Yet, these resolutions fall quickly by the wayside and we get discouraged and quit. What if, this year your New Year resolution came to “forwishen” (fulfillment, achievement, completion, perfection, and results).
Planting Seeds of Change:
Before change can happen, it’s important for us to realize that our outer life is reflection of our inner life….meaning that the harvest we reap in our outer life is a reflection of the seeds that have been consciously and most often subconsciously planted and cultivated in our inner life throughout a lifetime of seasons.
Are your ready to create a new garden of life?
Here are 3 steps to start reaping your great harvest of desired resolutions this year:
1.Set Clear Intentions and Then Create Your Plan
Just in the same way that you would not plant cucumber seeds to grow tomatoes, you have to have a clear intention and plant the seeds of your desired results to achieve the outcome you intended. For example, if your resolution is to lose weight, set your intention by knowing why you want to lose weight and what it would feel like to be at a healthier weight. From that feeling create your plan. This could include cutting out sugar, reducing simple carbohydrates, and adding more nutritional dense foods into your daily diet. The mere resolution of losing weight is not enough to bring about a change.
2.Take Action and Implement Your Plan
Take action and do it repeatedly so your new seeds of change take root. Be creative and plant “outside the box”. For example, if you want to get into better shape, find a fitness facility that offers a variety of activities, walk and skip each day, take dance lessons, or take up a fun community sport like Pickleball. Will you dare to take action and do it repeatedly to create your new life garden.
3.Consciously and Consistently Cultivate
Planting seeds isn’t enough. They must also be cultivated and tended. This can translate into being mindful. Being mindful allows you to bring your attention to your internal and external experiences happening in the present moment. By coming from a place of mindfulness you will find that a valued action will come with ease.
Is it your intention to plant seeds of change in order to reap more peace, more kindness and more love this year? Are you wondering how to bring about this great harvest of change?
Here are some examples of how to reap such a harvest:
To obtain more peace in your life, you must cultivate peace within yourself. How? First make peace with where you are right now. Take time to meditate. Practice yoga, Qigong or attend your place of worship. Spending time in nature is a great way to cultivate the peace that exists in all of us. And be sure to share your seeds of peace with others.
To obtain more kindness in your life, you must cultivate kindness in yourself. How? Be kinder to others. Just begin by smiling at others whether you know them or not. Be mindful of your reactions towards others, and purposely respond with gentleness in your tone.
When a difficult situation arises, we can ask ourselves: Is this kind? Is this true? Is this necessary? If the answer to all 3 is yes then go for it. If less then 3, then reconsider.
Using this process cultivates clarity in order to make the right valued action for your intended results.
Words we say to ourselves and others are like planting seeds. They are powerful and can hurt or heal. If our intention is to heal, being mindful of our words is paramount.
To obtain more love in your life, you must cultivate love for yourself. Sometimes, we can barely like ourselves, much less love ourselves. It doesn’t happen overnight, but with valued actions, this can be achieved. How? Weed out negative belief systems. Give more love to others, volunteer at a soup kitchen or animal shelter; give what you can to help those less fortunate. In time, this cultivating of your loving spirit will pay off, and you will be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say “I love you”… “Thank you”.
Your Great Harvest
Whatever you are seeking to create and weed out from your life this year it must be tended like a garden. A clear intention and plan (Seeds) must be planted then implemented (Action) and a conscious effort (Cultivation) must be brought forth daily. By year’s end, progress will be seen (your great harvest).
As your master gardener, I look forward to mentoring your life garden over the next 12 months and bringing your New Year’s resolutions to full “forwishen”-(fulfillment, achievement, completion, perfection, and results.)
Abundant blessings in 2017,
Donna
“Help us to be ever faithful gardeners of the spirit, who know that without darkness nothing comes to birth, and without light nothing flowers” ~May Sarton
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by Heart Light Digital
