On Monday I got home late. As usual, when I entered my house I put my bags down, slipped off my shoes and walked out back to let my dog out of his kennel. I checked my herbs as he did his daily routine of running around the yard in circles, expressing through body language: “I’m so excited to see you! I’ve been waiting all day for you to come home!” I do this every day. I check the soil, remove dead leaves, look for pests, etc. It has become such a habit, sometimes I don’t notice I am doing it. As I was checking on this night though, I discovered a cluster of bugs on my Calendula plant.
It was 10:00 pm.
What was meant to be a quick check before getting the dog in the house to feed him and settle into bed turned into an hour of pest control.
And so it began.
These bugs had been here before only they infested my Collards and I wasn’t about to let that happen again. My hour was spent spraying down all of my plants with an organic soap spray and manually removing the bugs with my fingertips. I was tired and frustrated. All I wanted to do was go to bed, but I also didn’t want my plant to die. Here I was, choosing to take care of my plants.
In the morning on the way to work my mind was turning with thoughts of the night before. I found myself thinking about how grateful I am for farmers. The ones who grow our food. Who work countless hours, never really getting a break. To grow something is more than just planting the seed in the ground and waiting for the fruit or vegetable to grow. You have to invest yourself. You have to pay close attention and battle the elements just to keep them alive. The soil, the water, the temperature all need to be right. You have to watch for pests and deal with them immediately or they can ruin a whole crop in a shorter amount of time than it took the crop to grow. I have a huge respect for farmers.
This got me thinking of life in general. What if we paid as close attention to ourselves as farmers do to their crops? What if we took the time for routine maintenance with ourselves? Spent an hour every day closely looking over our bodies, minds and souls. Adjusting what needs to be adjusted. “Spraying” those “bugs” and picking them off when needed. I know, it’s a bit of a cheesy metaphor, but a lot can be learned from working with plants.
If you think of yourself as a plant, how or what would you do to help yourself grow?
It’s something to think about.
Over Heard 