The garden of your mind

Published: Mon, 09/14/20

This year has not been a good year for gardening, not for us anyway. We have quite a big garden and over the past couple of years I created some beds for growing herbs and vegetables which were reasonably successful last year and I was going to develop them further this year. Then we spent April in Norfolk hiding away during ‘lockdown’, which would have been the crucial period of preparation and planting. Since we got back I have been very busy with my handyman business, and of course we have our delightful baby Iduna, who needs quite a lot of attention. So, I have mowed the grass and trimmed the hedge, but apart from that I am afraid that the garden has been left pretty much to its own devices. Some herbs such as the sage and marjoram have carried on growing anyway. I put some sprouting potatoes in one bed a few months ago and those have produces a small crop. However, there has still been quite an impressive range of flowering
plants such as poppies, a blue flower which might be toad flax, and a wide variety of other plants including the familiar daisies, buttercups, and dandelions. We have enjoyed seeing what comes up and the bees have taken full advantage of these naturally occurring flowers.

I don’t intend to be quite so neglectful next year although who knows how circumstances will work out again. The process of gardening is basically choosing what you want to have growing where and preparing the soil and planting seeds or seedlings. Then Jord, (the earth mother) has her own ideas about your garden and what follows is a kind of balance of conflict and collaboration between the gardener and nature. The gardener can decide to plant what they like but if the soil and other conditions are simply not right the chosen plant will not flourish and may well die. On the other hand, Jord will certainly ensure that plenty of plants grow in most places but the gardener will consider these ‘weeds’. I have been struck just how attractive to look at many of these ‘weeds’ are, and how appealing they are to the bees. Next year I do want a successful vegetable garden again, but I am very much aware that the project needs to be a
collaboration with Jord. Gardening can be a war with nature, which is never going to end well, or a sacred collaboration with the earth mother. Having seen the beauty mother nature can provide unaided I think a collaboration is definitely the way to go.

Another reason gardening is so popular is that this intimate relationship with nature teaches many lessons to the open mind and receptive soul. One of my main concerns in life is beliefs, where they come from, how, and why, they are planted in people’s minds, and how to manage beliefs once they take root. This year we made a conscious decision to allow nature to plant what she liked in our garden and just enjoy whatever came. I could have made a big effort in May to dig up the weeds which were getting well established and plant vegetables. I always knew that if I did not plant intentionally and manage the beds they would fill with weeds, the only surprise was how much we enjoyed what did grow.

Are you conscious of what is planted in your mind in terms of ideas, which then become beliefs? Whole industries which employ very expert people, have budgets of billions of pounds or dollars, have done decades of research, and strive night and day to plant ideas in your mind, and nurture those ideas into well rooted beliefs. The same process is also doing its best to weed out beliefs considered unsuitable, and preventing other ideas from ever being planted. Metaphors can be tricky, but just for now, think of your mind as a garden, of which you are the gardener. Many marvelous ideas come from all kinds of sources and will try and establish themselves in your mind. A great many horrible ideas will come too and great efforts may be made to root these as beliefs too. The bad ideas may be forced into your mind over your better judgment, or disturbing notions may slip into your conciousness while you are not looking. Either way,
beliefs which are not conducive to mental health and spiritual well being will establish themselves in your mind from time to time. As the gardener of your mind you need to root up the unhealthy beliefs before they take over your life and establish a healthy relationship with ideas which bring love, truth, and beauty.

Gardening is actually very simple, but successful gardening requires awareness, constant attention, and quite a bit of hard work, and this applies whether for your mind or a physical garden.

Regards

Graham

PS Talking of planting ideas, you might be interested to know that there is an online consultation running at the moment on proposed changes to Human Medicine Regulations which will permit the government to authorise the distribution of an unlicensed vaccine for Covid 19. You might like to check it out here and perhaps comment yourself https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/distributing-vaccines-and-treatments-for-covid-19-and-flu