Weeding Wisdom

Northern geranium in our front-door planter

A few things I learned from my two hours of weeding and clearing out yesterday…

1) Choose your mark and then deeply root in it.

Weeds have a rugged persistence and drive to them that I really respect. I notice that the weeds grow deep and tenacious roots; it's hard to remove them from their place once they have chosen it. It teaches me about sticking with things. About focusing on an intention and being really rooted in that, not being swayed from it.

2) It's easier to remove unwanted things when they are small than to wait until they grow into something huge.

Yesterday I did some weeding of some very small sprouts. And I was reminded of how much easier dealing with things while they were small was. Whether it's dealing with the conversation I don't want to have or the self-critical thought I just had about my thighs, I find it's easier and more effective to take action now (make the phone call, reframe my self-talk into something positive and loving). When I put off addressing things that need attention, I find they can grow into something unwieldly and take way more time and effort than if I "nip them in the bud" now.

3) It takes more to worry about doing something than to just do something (even something small).

I almost didn't do any yardwork yesterday because I started in out in a familiar story of "no time." I had two hours yesterday to garden before heading out to a Radical Forgiveness Ceremony with Karen Bowen. (Highly recommend this experience — simple yet powerful!) My first thoughts about going out to garden were all about how I wouldn't get it all done today. But I stopped myself and decided to just get started. And you know what? I managed to clean three beds and felt very satisfied that I had made some progress on the project.

4) On the surface it might look like weeds and dead stuff, but underneath there is growth and transformation.

This is a lesson that I am having greater and greater opening around. In the past, I would focus on the stuck-ness and the deadness and overlook all the growth and new buds that are emerging underneath. I was consistently surprised yesterday by pulling away the old stalks of the plants to find the new buds thriving underneath. It helps me to remember that there is always yin and yang forces present — where there is dying, there is also life and rebirth.

5) It's never over. It's always a journey.

I sometimes have this fantasy that I will complete a project and be forever finis with it. As in:  I will clean out all the beds perfectly and be done until next year. Of course, this is not how life works. We are never finished with anything — there is always more. More to do. More to learn. More to discover. More steps on a journey. All we can do is do what we can do and declare it enough for now.

Tell me, what lessons are there for you in the daily routines of your life today?

The little welcome vignette by our front door this week. Planter is from Home Depot.