I was sitting in the therapist’s office and telling her how much I loved gardening, and she said, “Gardening seems to be spiritual training for you.” I stopped talking and looked at her silently as tears began to gather in my eyes.
‘What’s behind those tears?’ she asked.
I don’t know what to say, I don’t understand why I’m crying, and I pause to feel the truth inherent in the present moment. “I think you’ve made me realize how important it is to me by calling it spiritual training.”
I have owned several large gardens throughout my life, but now I only have a small balcony in my rental apartment. But in this little space where the sun only shines in the afternoon, I made a very satisfying and green oasis.
Every morning after writing, I carefully water all the plants, check their health, rearrange them, and prune them. Every time you visit a balcony, you notice how it has changed and enjoy it. A morning glory vine is about to climb the wall of the decorative plaster. Hanryeon produced more seeds.
I hung a net filled with Mr. Naiser on a long post. These socks attract dozens of gold finch birds and house finches, birds that scatter in groups across the courtyard when one of us opens the sliding door. A small round-bellied bird called the black-eyed juncos runs around the floor and window frames, pecking at spilled seeds. During the day, birds chirp in the courtyard, and you can hear the sound of living in a deep English forest inside the apartment. At night, owls bark.
One of two flowerpot boxes bolted to the railing
The outer wall cannot be drilled due to the lease agreement. In other words, you cannot hang a basket or attach a shelf. Instead, two large flowerpot boxes were bolted to the railing. One box was planted with hanyeon and the other box was planted with phytunia. The flowers of the Hanryeon plant not only contain one of the sweetest nectar, but have also evolved to shape so that only hummingbirds and some types of honeybees can reach nectar. Honeybees continue to buzz around our balconies, and hummingbirds chirp accurately from flower to flower. Sometimes a hummingbird hovers near my face while I’m taking care of a vase box.
In the heart of Silicon Valley, between asphalt and a business park, our balcony attracts many large dragonflies and butterflies. They also grow sunflowers, peppers, lettuce, jasmine, and mint. Gardens and plants have taught (or reteached) a few things about life so far, and I’ll tell you in this article.
You cannot force progress.
Recently, I was talking to a coaching client about spiritual growth and the development of self-awareness. When we first met, he had already made great progress in raising self-awareness, but while working together, he became aware of his personality aspects that had previously been completely hidden.
I celebrated his progress with him and explained that the spiritual development process that I believe is a form that I don’t really learn is gradual and natural. It takes time and effort to make some progress in becoming a complete self-realization, a completely innocent, childlike person. I learned a lot from plant cultivation recently, so I used it as a metaphor to explain more.
When we plant seeds, we must leave them in the darkness of the earth, and keep them moist and warm enough to sprout. Digging the ground to see if it is budding will hurt the roots. Once it starts to penetrate the surface of the soil and unfold the first leaf (the two leaves made on both sides of the seed are called cotyledon) it has to be in a position to receive light for synthesis. Carbon dioxide and water sugar.
As it grows we have to constantly water it, feed it, avoid direct sunlight, avoid direct sunlight, protect it from frost, and get rid of all the bugs that start eating it. Over time, the pot may have roots and should be carefully transplanted into a larger pot so that it can continue to grow.
If we take care of it correctly and consistently, it will blossom, and if we put it in an ecosystem that supports it, other creatures, such as insects, sometimes hummingbirds, can pollinate to form seeds. The seeds can then be collected and eaten (as fruit) or dried and stored to grow more plants in the next season.
A rich harvest requires careful perseverance, and only efforts in harmony with natural processes will accelerate the harvest. Watering, positioning, feeding, weed removal, pruning, training, and protection can all be effective behaviors for plants. Given the optimal conditions these activities provide, plants will thrive. But if we shout, worry, pull, dig, punish, reprimand, restrain, or rush the plant in any way, we will inevitably make the process take longer or completely end. .
This analogy is particularly clearly true of the process of increasing our daily satisfaction and usefulness as an expression that reflects the inherent sweetness of the fundamental nature of reality. We must meditate, sleep, encourage and be surrounded by positive friends and guides, read, learn, eat well, exercise, reflect, and explore the inside. You should also practice curiosity, hope, faith, consideration, and persistence.
a close-up shot of Hanryeon
Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.
As Cindy and I hike along a winding path through a shady forest full of oak and pine trees in the local mountains, we sometimes nest on the side of the road and see a delicate fern splash gently wavy in the breeze. This plant is called Maiden Hair bracken and it is very difficult to grow. Friends have told me that they are having a hard time raising successfully. Cindy and I also killed at least one of these plants.
Now that we have a sustainably thriving maiden-headed fern and know how to manage it well, we understand how we killed this plant in the past. I like moisture, but I die if my roots are soaked and I am not given time to breathe. I leave the bracken soil before watering it almost completely dry. To achieve this, check the soil at the top of the pot for moisture. If you feel dry every few days, fill a cup or two of coffee with water and spray it evenly on the floor.
Our maiden hair fern.
One of the signs that you’re overwatering or feeding the plants is that the leaves start to dry out. This is because the roots stop functioning when they fall into the water or start to decay, or when the water in the soil is a stronger solution than the water inside the root. If there is too much food in the water in the soil, osmotic pressure causes the water to escape from the root and enter the soil and dilute the water. Most people instinctively water and feed plants more when they see signs of overwatering or overfeeding them, eventually killing them.
Maidenhair ferns are also characterized by overwatering. The leaves turn very light green. The bracken leaves sometimes turn very bright green for a few days. If this happens, the plant will be able to water and return to a healthy state in a few days.
Many plants, such as hallyeon and morning glory, do not grow well in fertile soil. It is important to use minimal fertilizer rarely for this kind of plant. Otherwise, flowers will not bloom.
In general, it is important to realize that many things in life that are nutritious in the correct amount, such as water and fertilizer for plants, can be toxic or even fatal in large quantities. We are too generous, too patient, too forgiving, too indifferent, too logical, too caring, and willing to sacrifice our own happiness to help others. Like plant management, ultimate health is achieved through the process of dynamically coordinating our understanding and behavior by receiving and integrating feedback from the world around us.We are too generous, too patient, too forgiving, too indifferent, too logical, too caring, and willing to sacrifice our own happiness to help others.Like plant management, ultimate health is achieved through the process of dynamically coordinating our understanding and behavior by receiving and integrating feedback from the world around us.
Ugly can be beautiful.
First, after the finch birds began to sit on it with their seed socks on, I sometimes looked out of the window and said to Cindy. In fact, there are often up to nine birds, but sometimes there is only one particularly greedy bird. The bird hangs its claws on its socks, whistles violently, and flaps its wings vigorously at the bird that is about to land. That particular bird is a little bit chubbier than other birds, probably because it spends most of its time protecting its territory rather than eating.
This made me realize that birdsong is actually the sound of birds talking to each other. “Get out, get out, get out.
This is mine, this is mine, this is mine.” Birds don’t know how much abundance there is. They don’t know that I have 10 pounds of seeds to refill my socks and that I can buy another bag for $17 if it’s all gone. Birds believe and act as if they were lacking. But we love birdsong, so their quarrels and territorialism are music to our ears.
On the night of morning glory
Now we can pay attention to things that look ugly in our lives, like harsh, defensive words, and shift our perspective to see beauty in them. “Oh, John is shouting again. It’s music to my ears.” We also have the opportunity to recognize and ask questions about our own lack of thinking. Is there really a place in our lives that wastes energy and effort and damages relationships to acquire and stockpile the resources that are being poured into us abundantly? For example, many people tend to hold, hide and protect creative ideas. This simply interferes with the most important driver of success in any effort that is constantly implemented.
The reality is a hologram.
I perform Vipassana meditation as taught by SN Goenka. This technology systematically scans the unconscious. The seeds of pain are extracted one by one from the unconscious and fall to dry land and die. Seeds arrived there with non-adaptive thoughts that initially fell into the fertile soil of untrained unconsciousness. There they began to sprout. This cycle of pain in the unconscious mind automatically proceeds without our conscious effort, leading to the perpetuation of the continuing and conscious experience of deep pain throughout life and life.
Uppasana meditation is the process of removing all the plants at the root and all the seeds buried. It is the process of carefully observing the unconscious and thinning out the seeds that sprout before they bear fruit. Eventually there is a complete and permanent release from pain when there are no more plants, roots, or seeds.
This metaphor for plants and seeds is widely used by people performing various forms of meditation, including many other traditions in places like India. The above-mentioned mental impurities that lead to unconscious pain and unfortunate external conditions are often referred to as “the seeds of work.”
It was very beneficial for me to actually witness the intense drive of plants growing and reproducing. I understand the power of metaphor much more intuitively after seeing six relatively small plants produce hundreds of seeds and knowing that each seed will grow into a whole new plant when planted and nurtured.
the seeds of a lotus plant
I often encourage you to set goals and review them on a regular basis to feel content and pleasure in the realization of the future. This process of continuously cultivating the garden of our minds and planting the seeds of things we want to bloom in our lives is also much richer in the light of hours of physical gardening.
I learned from the graduate school of self-transcendence psychology that people considered “awakened” are different from ordinary people in that they turn all their experiences into teaching stories. I didn’t realize it, but I think it turns many experiences into stories that help people. I believe that this trend stems from experiencing many aspects of the fundamental nature of reality through meditation. I recognize how the underlying characteristics of reality are repeated more and more through total representation.
What I learn from gardening is that there is a teaching story in every experience that we are deeply involved in. This simply means that living is a spiritual performance. The more we engage in reality and pay close attention to it, the more we know ourselves, because everything reflects us at the most fundamental level.
conclusion
I’ve enjoyed gardening a lot over the past few months, and I’ve enjoyed writing this article for you. Thank you for choosing to spend time with me on this journey. I hope you have inspired them to grow their own gardens, plant what they like, and carefully cultivate them.