Subject: You

“The act of naming the world, in ways uniquely your own, 

is one way to spark the creative energy 

that lives inside each human being.”  

- Rebecca McClanahan

I came across this quote in a magazine this week. It felt so relevant following my last post about being comfortable in one’s own skin. Spend some time alone. Learn to like yourself. Enjoy doing things with yourself. Make time for just yourself. You will see that a great fire burns within – the fire of imagination and creativity. We keep so busy being accountable that we forget to circle back and look within. Children have it but we spend a lifetime dulling that fire. What if we made room for it again? For possibility? For creativity?

Comfortable in Your Own Skin

Recently while I was having lunch with a friend of mine, I realized just how rich our conversation was thanks to a technology-free atmosphere.  A couple of hours of unfiltered and trusted sharing made me think about what it means to be comfortable in one’s own skin.

As we talked about our different experiences with open hearts, a sense of humility and peace washed over me. Within each of us is an inner well of strength that gives us the courage to go forward with the unspoken certainty that tomorrow will shine a brighter light of hope.

Our inner well of peace is always full, ready to refresh our souls at any time of need and yet how little we turn to it, choosing, instead, to turn outward for answers to some of life’s challenges.  Why?

With this question in my head, I knew it was time for me to go to one of my favorite places to think. I started on a walk through the garden and found an area that was in need of a little trimming and weeding. With shovel and shears, I began to work away.  The garden is my place to harness that inner well.  The garden allows me to refresh my soul, contemplate my thoughts, and clear my mind as I dig and prune in preparation for another burst of growth. 

The different seasons of the garden teach me how to continually prepare my heart to walk with humility and understanding that there is something greater than me. The more I understand this gift of grace, the more I am able to grow comfortable in my own skin and be at peace. The strength of a humble heart allows me to flourish like a bountiful garden through the seasons of life. And maybe, it is this gift from above is what fills our wells effortlessly and endlessly.

Recipe for Life

Fill your well with a dash of quiet time, much love and daily nurturing to refresh your soul.

Tap your inner well often, it is your greatest source of strength.

How to Be a Green Leaf

Longer days are an invitation to get outside. All those new buds make me brim with anticipation and excitement for more growth ahead.

Practice being a green leaf by taking part in nature. Get outside -- whether you live in the city, by the coast or in the country, take a walk outside. Make it longer than usual or try a new route just to heighten your senses. Even better, invite a friend.

Marvel at the beauty of nature -- its cycles and the evolving color palette throughout the day and throughout this month.

This is a great time to plant some seeds and watch them grow! Spring is in the air, green leaf! Opportunities are there for the taking!

Be A Green Leaf in Drought

There are so many joys I find in gardening: the discovery of life in a new blossom, the first burst of rose buds in the spring, and that grand tree, dormant for winter, finally stretches and releases fresh green leaves. The doves coo in the quiet dawn mornings as the butterflies practice the choreography of the season.

I often write about gardening because it teaches me so much about life.  Most of all, it has taught me to slow down the day and avoid list-making in order to truly take in the moments that nature created for us to enjoy.

Because of my love for gardening,  I have become fascinated with garden stories and metaphors.  Many refer to the garden for cultural significance while others look to the garden for spiritual understanding.

During a recent trip to Asia, I became fascinated with the green leaf. Its design was on clothing, jewelry and notebooks. It was everywhere— an icon of new life, good luck and good health.  

When I returned home, I came across a book, Green Leaf in Drought by Isobel Kuhn, a true story about the lives of missionaries who traveled in the most eastern part of China during the early 1950s. It documented their lives and the many trials they faced trying to be "green leaves" during many seasons of drought, loss and sadness.  The story of their lives touched my heart.

We all go through droughts such as loss, uncertainty and sadness during the seasons of life and yet, through these challenging times, there is always hope for newness.

How To Be a Green Leaf in Drought

- Find a time in your day to refill yourself with something you enjoy.

- Play some music, sketch, take a walk, read, putter in the garden, try a new recipe or set some time aside to just sit, be still and breathe.

- Once you refill the soil of your soul, you will discover the newness of life that gives you strength to continue to shine. You will have the strength to continue to grow through all seasons. You are a green leaf.

- Plant a seed of encouragement to help others who may be going through a drought.

Life lessons from the garden

This week, I was thumbing through some of my garden books when I was pulled into a story about the virtues of the gardener who tends to the cyclical unpredictability of the land, season after season.

Yes. A garden instills humility in us -- a deep respect of something greater than ourselves. We learn about the gift of nurturing, tending and caring for others – from the heart. 

The author went on to describe the gardener’s deep inner strength and their wisdom to not only grow a successful and healthy garden but to choose to live a life that is able to find joy in all things.

Life, like the garden, is very unpredictable—yet, we gardeners dig, prune, clean and repeat.  We welcome in the joy of the surprises created in the garden—not by us, but by something greater than us.  Hope and inner strength translate beyond the garden.

One of my favorite lines goes something like this:

I thought by being diligent and dedicated to my work, I was growing my garden, yet I learned that actually my garden was and still is growing me.

I am sure I am not the first person to discover that gardening is a wise window into the mystery of life. And, like many who have come to this conclusion in their higher-learning institute of gardening, we discover how to be joyful through all of the seasons of life.  

Plan, celebrate, reflect -- February is full of surprises!

Embrace Change

Why do we avoid change?

So often we look at change as negative.  Yes, change is not always a choice; it may be a loss, or something we had not anticipated to take place in our lives.  How much my life has changed this last year and, even more recently, these last several months! And though some of the changes seemed to be ever so difficult, many of the changes have really helped me to grow, learn and stretch myself in new directions.

The more I welcome and embrace change as a gift of opportunity, I find I actually think differently. Change simply means not getting “stuck” in the routine.

Every six months, I like to do a self-assessment to make sure that I am tuned into the changes that are happening around me so that I am still reaching and growing. It’s a lot like pruning and cleaning a garden to keep it fresh and healthy through the seasons. During a process of change, take a moment to be quiet and listen.  You’ll start to enjoy the new precisely because it is different! 

As we begin to welcome in the cooler air and rich colors of the autumn season, I encourage all of us to embrace the many changes ahead as a positive experience of “newness”—a refresh and refill for one’s soul.