My garden here in sandly little Boulder, Utah has for years, been a jungle of sunflowers. Their broad and happy faces as broad as mine, made me smile. Their complex spiraling seed geometry invited me into their intelligence. Their vital life force pushing them to eight, ten, sometimes twelve feet in height brought me to awe. Yet last year, I had to finally reckon with the understanding that they were shading out the vegetables that sought sun beneath them, that they invaded root space and absorbed nutrients and water bound for others. And as beautiful as they were, the space needed to be shared generously with all. Sadly, I needed to pull out many of their miraculous bodies! ouch!!
For the last days now, I have finally began to find the willingness in me to prune more readily…that can pull sunflowers out and other wonderful plants, in my intention to find what might be healthier for all, and in the end, perhaps a palette for the senses that is an even more vibrant and inspired collaboration between human and wild proliferation.
My garden…Earth’s garden, is generous beyond measure with it’s lessons, so I turn towards what greater story might be here for me. What I hear are the echoes of the value of cutting back…of saying no…of pulling out…of eliminating even the alive and beautiful….even echoes of a necessary willingness to say good bye to those that I value. With the help of a dear and wise friend, I am coming to see that my sensitivity to being kind to all, can sometimes get in the way...I can want to keep things in even my inner garden…giving them my focus, my water and nutrients, my sun, when my energy would be better spent on other things. I see that sometimes I must eliminate even the precious aspects of my life in order to give my attention to what is primary in this moment. Paring away, pruning, weeding can give us the elbow room for what we consciously choose. In this crazy busy time in the world, we must choose where to spend our energy…we cannot do everything. Even the most blessed activities can become obsessions or addictions and stop serving the whole.
Choice is important and a powerful act!
I choose to turn now towards the growing edge of my garden’s wholeness and how THAT feeds the world….to usher forth my own lush bouquets and nourishing vegetables, and give them away.