Scripture ~ “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.” Luke 6: 44-47 The Message
Spiritual Focus ~ “When you plant seeds in the garden, you don’t dig them up every day to see if they have sprouted yet. You simply water them and clear away the weeds; you know that the seeds will grow in time. Similarly, just do your daily practices and cultivate a kind heart. Abandon impatience and instead be content creating the causes of goodness; the results will come when they’re ready.” Venerable Thubten Chodron, American Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, teacher, and founder of Sravasti Abbey
Breath Prayer ~ Inhale, pull weeds, Exhale, water seeds
Devotion ~ The idea for this Sacred Soul Gardening series was inspired by yoga teacher Gwen Linden-Brusek. She began one class by inviting us to lie down in corpse pose and become aware of the Terra Firma—the solid ground distinct from air and sea—supporting us. She then prompted us to think about our whole being as a garden. What soul gardening do we need to do to be healthy and whole, in our own lives as well as for the sake of the lives we influence? What needs to be weeded and what needs to be watered in our own lives? As we moved from corpse pose to seated easy pose, she introduced the mantra, “pull weeds, water seeds”.
In soul gardening, our thoughts are analogous to seeds and weeds. To cultivate a healthy life, we must weed out unhealthy thoughts and water healthy ones. This process takes courage, discernment, and a kind heart. Some weeds may be beautiful, like habitual thoughts that become comfortable to live with, but they may also be harmful or encumber growth. If we do not do the work of weeding our soul garden of harmful thoughts, we risk those thoughts becoming intrusive, distracting, and choking out the new thing God might be inviting us to consider.
Cognitive behavioral therapy would label these ruminating thoughts and apply the technique of thought blocking. Yoga and meditation use a different strategy of equanimity and detachment. We allow our thoughts to exist but do not attach to them. Rather we focus on returning to the breath prayer, sacred word, or mantra. Refocusing our attention in this way on the Terra Firma, or our union with God, nurtures our awareness of God’s presence as the foundation. From this stable ground, we practice with patience and faith, content to allow the seeds of goodness and kindness of our true being grow and “brim over” in words and deeds.
