Return to the Garden

For many years I kept a journal until I bored myself silly with all my whining and complaining. So I stopped for a while. But the urge caught up with me again so I started up. This time I try not to complain about my life but use my writing to analyze my thinking and gain insight. Writing about your dreams is one to accomplish this.

Keep your journal near your bed. Often times we think we have not dreamed when actually we have. Many times we wake up from a dream and then go back to sleep, thus totally forgetting the dream in the morning. The next time you wake up from a dream, grab your journal and just jot down a few words that will jar your memory later. Go back to sleep. The next morning try to write about your dream in your journal using your notes. Quite often the meanings of the dreams suddenly make themselves evident as you write, but if not, come back to the journal entry a couple of days later and see if you have more insight into the dream’s meaning. Many times anxiety over a waking problem will manifest in a dream and frequently solutions to that problem will also emerge in a dream. By writing about these dreams, we may be able to discern the proper course of action or at the very least gain some knowledge about and mastery over the anxiety.

Sweet dreams………….

Lori G. © 2007.

My parsley died. I sort of expected it. It was hard to get it to germinate. I tried watering, then not watering, wondering what conditions I needed to foster to get it right. While considering this situation, I realized that it might not be anything wrong that I’ve done; rather, it might be a certain level of toxicity in the soil. Nothing can survive within a toxic environment. Always looking for some lessons from my gardening experience, I spent a number of days considering how to parlay this experience into a practical application.

I began to examine the toxic elements in my life. Not surprisingly, I zeroed in on my relationships. I realized that I have allowed some of them to become toxic-perhaps it’s not the people who have become toxic, rather the toxicity is in the circumstances that I have allowed to fester around the relationships.

Now I really don’t want to end any of my relationships, so I wrote a letter, not inteded to be sent, to help me purge some of these toxic feelings. This is a classic technique for handling negative situations. Originally, I had the letter here on this post but after a few days, I decided to take it down. It has served it’s purpose and I really don’t want to risk anyone of the recipients actually reading it.

My thanks to those of you who read it and commented.

On Saturday morning I felt compelled to go to my local botanical garden. I say compelled because I had so many chores to do Saturday that I really didn’t have the time. Yet, I went.

When I entered the grounds, I wandered around a bit, snapping photos, until I found myself in a little area called “The Garden of the Senses.” This area is comprised of plants that have strong fragrances or are unique to the touch. A stone bird-bath with a fountain was situated in the middle surrounded by some arbor-covered benches. I realized then how tense I was and how much I needed to relax.

I settled on the bench and set my bag and camera aside. I sat upright without reclining on the back of the seat. I set my feet flat on the ground and let my hands and arms rest on the top of my knees. I closed my eyes and took in a long breath.

I focused my attention on my neck and face as I slowly exhaled. Then I did the same for my shoulders and so forth until I had focused my thoughts on each area of my body, releasing tension with each inward and outward breath.

Whenever a wayward thought entered my mind, such as what I needed to do that day or the trials of the past week, I would simply let them pass by and resettled my thoughts on my breath.

Soon, I became acutely aware of my surroundings. In the Garden of the Senses, I could smell the sweet and pungent fragrances of Rosemary and Mexican sage. I could hear birds chirping, the movement of the gardener in an adjacent patch, and the sound of dribbling water. I felt the breeze touching my face and arms. I opened my eyes and saw that about eight or ten little brown sparrows had settled into the bird bath, completely unaware of my presence and happily thrashing about.

Then I felt a sting on my ankles. I looked down and saw that I had situated myself near a string of black ants and some had commenced crawling on my feet and ankles. I decided that it was time to move on. Feeling refreshed and relaxed, I picked up my gear and began wandering along the paths of the garden.

I entered a patch of dahlias and cockscombs. Many of them were high, almost eye level with me and were of all manner of colors. Butterflies and bees were everywhere, flitting and buzzing from flower to flower. Being cautious of the bees, I slowly made my way through the patch. Then, something shiny caught my eye.

I approached a red cockscomb and saw that the flash was an iridescent beetle quietly grazing on the flower face. In the morning sun, the beetled glittered like a jewel in an amazing array of greens, blues, and pinks.

Generally, I am not fond of insects, but I was totally mesmerized and stood for several minutes observing the beetle. Then I realized that I had been called to garden to witness this simple but glorious display of nature.

The lessons I learned this morning are these:

I need to heed the call of the wild and enjoy the outdoors as frequently as I can;

I need to do deep breathing meditations more often, once a day for a few minutes to deal with daily stressors;

I need to be completely open to the surprises and wonders that nature offers.

Not a bad way to spend a morning, don’t you think?

Images and Text, Lori G. © 2007

Images: Mexican Sage; Green Beetle