The Weeds Will Take Over if You Let Them

Wow. Spring is in full swing here in the magnificent Pacific Northwest. Everything is growing like crazy!

One of my landscapers came to my front door the other day. When I answered, he said, "I'm so happy to see that you are ok!" When I asked why he was concerned he said, "I thought maybe something happened to you... because your garden is such a MESS!"

Well. I knew that I was a little behind in my weeding. It's been so cold here. I haven't been able to get myself out to weed as much as I normally would by this time of year. I didn't, however, think it was 'quite that bad' out there!

I was having lunch with a friend the other day, and he was telling me about a video game that his young daughter likes. One of the 'challenges' in the game is that weeds appear in your yard from time to time. If you keep up with removing them, you are fine. If, however, you let the weeds continue to multiply unchecked, within a very short period of time you spend all your time pulling weeds (and not playing the actual game) and you NEVER catch up. The weeds take over your life... and doom you to a hollow existence.

This is definitely possible in a garden setting. I've experienced it. When I let certain weeds get out of control, I pay a huge price in more energy and time expended to 'deal with them' later on. A little effort early in 'the game' saves endless time 'later in the game.'

This is also true in our thinking. We have good, productive, healthy thoughts and we have what I would call, "weed thoughts." Weed thoughts take mental and emotional resources to have them and maintain them. Just like weeds in a garden take nutrients and water away from near by desirable plants, weed thoughts siphen off energy and motivation from healthy, motivating and positive thoughts. It's a resource issue. We don't have unlimited energy or mental and emotional resources. If we allow our energy to be sucked into dead end addictive, obsessive, negative, defeating thoughts, we simply don't have the same available energy to move ourselves forward and cultivate the life of our dreams.

Just like weeds are easy to remove when they first appear, weed thoughts are easy to shut down when they first get started in our mind. Weeds in the soil can put down deep roots, and/or spread their seeds fairly rapidly. Weed thoughts too can put down deeper roots and propogate into other realms of thought more quickly than we can even believe. Pulling the weed, or extracting the weed thought when we first become aware of it, can save us immense time, energy and heartache later on. This diligence of awareness and willingness to take immediate action, is what is critical, in the gardening of our physical spaces and our mental/emotional landscape.

If you ever work with 'weeds' in the garden, I encourage you to study their habits and what it takes to eradicate them and keep them under control. Then, apply these exact same principles as you cultivate your mental and emotional lanscape! You will be well served!

Happy gardening!