Think of your life as if it were a garden. Frequently tended seeds will grow strong. The practice of watering seeds asks, "what seeds am I watering in myself, and in the people around me"?
The first step of our practice is to pause and notice. When we pause we can recognize what is present? Maybe we have been busy watering the seeds of anger or envy? Maybe we notice we have been watering the seeds of family connection and acceptance?
This “pause & notice” helps us examine what we are practicing as gardeners and how we are tending to our soil. In Acceptance & Commitment Therapy, this augments the “observing self” as well as gives us practice in “watching our thinking”.
Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh 2006:
Your mind is like a piece of land planted with many different kinds of seeds: seeds of joy, peace, mindfulness, understanding, and love; seeds of craving, anger, fear, hate, and forgetfulness. These wholesome and unwholesome seeds are always there, sleeping in the soil of your mind. The quality of your life depends on the seeds you water. If you plant tomato seeds in your gardens, tomatoes will grow. Just so, if you water a seed of peace in your mind, peace will grow. When the seeds of happiness in you are watered, you will become happy. When the seed of anger in you is watered, you will become angry. The seeds that are watered frequently are those that will grow strong.
Tend to your garden intentionally, and make time each day to water your seeds of JOY!
shauna paynter
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