How Does Your Garden Grow?

“A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth.”

- James Allen

***

Ah, Springtime!  It’s a time of growth, new beginnings!  Spring allows one to engage in an annual “labor of love,” gardening!  The fruits of one’s labor will ultimately depend upon the seeds planted and how well one cares for their garden.
    

Just like a home garden, where plants, flowers, and vegetables grow, your mind is a garden too.  There is only one master gardener of your mind, and it’s you!  Therefore, you must be diligent about the seeds you plant and how you care for your mind garden.  Seeds are thoughts, so be careful what you sow.  The law of the harvest counsels “You reap what you sow.” If you sow negative thoughts, you’ll harvest negativity.  Conversely, positive thoughts will reap a positive harvest. 

As gardeners, we choose the seeds we plant, be them good or bad.  Good seeds have the potential to produce a bountiful harvest.  Hence, we must be vigilant of the outside influences that can wreak havoc in our garden.  A home garden is susceptible to the weather, insects and animals, and weeds.  Like a home garden, the garden of our mind is vulnerable to outside influences too.  Friends and family members, often unintentionally, can wreak havoc in our mind garden.  Society and popular culture can have a way of choking off good seeds that have been planted.  Alcohol and drugs can poison a garden; killing growth and rendering it barren.  

So how does one cultivate a bountiful mind garden?  Foremost, good seeds (thoughts) must be planted.  With good seeds planted, the gardener must be aware of any negative influence (family and friends; society and popular culture; and drugs and alcohol) and eradicate it as soon as possible.  Besides protecting a garden from negative influences, a garden needs to be nurtured.  Tending to a home garden requires work, such as watering, fertilizing and cultivating.  A mind garden requires nurturing too.  It’s called “Personal Development,” or commonly referred to as “self-development,” or “self-help.”  A master gardener must be willing to do the work entailed in personal development.  According to Myrko Thum, “Personal Development is the conscious pursuit of personal growth by expanding self-awareness and knowledge and improving personal skills. 

So there you have it!  A master mind gardener must think positive thoughts, surround themselves with positive people, read books and literature or attend seminars/trainings that focus on personal development, and seek guidance/counsel from those who actively engage in personal development practices.  In simplistic terms, personal development is consciously working on becoming a better you.   Carl Jung once said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”  Don’t take a chance and let fate destroy your garden.  I encourage you to be conscious of the seeds you sow and take active measures to tend to your garden; for it you do, your harvest will be plenty! 

Best gardening tip:  If you really want a bountiful garden, spend some time with the ultimate Master Gardener, The Good Lord.  He knows a thing or two about creation and abundance!

It’s your life: live it, love it & celebrate
MJD