Tending to Your Inner Garden
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
You might feel how those words are true for you at times. Perhaps you wish for world peace, but you find it challenging to keep your own inner peace.
Or perhaps you want to see the world united, but in your own thoughts and conversations you use divisive words like ‘us vs them’ or ‘good guys and bad guys’.
Yoga helps us understand that we create our world from the inside out. Thoughts, intentions and actions plant seeds (karma) within our inner garden that will eventually bloom into our experiences. Uplifting and uniting seeds, such as love, kindness, and gratitude, will bloom into an abundant garden and as a result we have desirable experiences. Down-pulling and divisive seeds such as jealousy, anger, and deceit, will eventually bloom into weeds in our inner garden and we have undesirable experiences.
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The womb of karmas (actions and reactions) has its root in these obstacles, and the karmas (seeds) bring experiences in the seen [present] or in the unseen [future] births.
The ancient wisdom of Yoga encourages us to become deliberate gardeners and to take responsibility for our own inner world.
Sometimes we keep the momentum of negative circumstances going by repeatedly thinking and talking about our current state of affairs. Other times we find someone else to blame and then obsessively think and talk about them.
The lens in which we see the world becomes manipulated by our inner garden. For example, someone that had an undesirable run in with the law, might look at a police officer and see an enemy, someone to dislike or avoid. Meanwhile another person who once felt protected by that same police officer may see a hero, someone to run to and say thank you. Same officer, different experience, seen through two different lenses.
The stories embedded deep within each of us shape the way we see and interact with each other and the world. Suffering (unhappiness, anxiety, anger, fear, frustration) happens when we believe our way of seeing the world is the ONLY way, the RIGHT way.
So how do we stop this vicious cycle?
Yoga teaches us that when we plant more of the higher quality seeds, (thoughts, feelings and actions that unite and uplift) we start to crowd out the undesirable seeds of our past transgressions and more and more desirable experiences bloom in the future. We can call this inner gardening. We make a commitment to ourself that we want to care for and tend to our inner garden by doing our best to plant the highest quality seeds more than we plant those of lesser quality. (Because let’s be honest, it’s impossible to only plant the desirable ones!)
When we become more deliberate gardeners for our own thoughts, words and actions, we take responsibility for ourself and as a result, our world.
Many of us, however, want a quick fix or instant results because we may have been suffering for a long time. But this process takes time. Think about how long it has taken for all of the seeds planted over your lifetime to fully bloom into your current set of circumstances. Do you plant sunflower seeds today and expect to see happy yellow bonnets in a vase in 2 hours, or even 2 months?
How do we do this in the midst of chaos?
Perhaps one way to keep the momentum of planting high quality seeds would be to treat people the way you want to be treated. How would a particular thought or action feel if it were directed at you?
Another way might be to quietly ask yourself three questions before you start or contribute to a conversation or share some gossip.
Is it True?
Is it Kind?
Is it Necessary?
Finding a practice or support group that is uplifting and inspiring is another lovely way to keep up the momentum of planting higher quality seeds.
We can change the world by tending to our inner garden more frequently. Small acts of kindness toward yourself goes a long way. With practice those small acts extend out to our loved ones and the ripple effect begins. When we learn to sow the seeds of love more frequently, we have a positive impact on our family, our friends, our communities, and our world.
In summary, our experiences are a reflection of our thoughts and actions. We create our world from the inside out. If we think life is hard and unkind, we keep planting seeds for life to show us a hard and unkind place. If we think life is kind and joyful, we keep planting seeds for life to show us it’s beauty. By becoming more aware of our thoughts, words, and actions, we make a conscious shift toward creating a more uplifting world, one seed at a time.
This article was inspired by personal reflection, the study of yoga, and the book “How Yoga Works” by Geshe Michael Roach.
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