Watering and Weeding the Mental Garden

All the things of the world change; they are born, they blossom, they bear fruit, and they die. Only the great unity - your own association with the infinite, your own individual manifestation of the Universal Mind of God - only that is changeless.
Uell S. Andersen, location 360

I know I often write about not being dependent on to-do lists but sometimes I think I could use a bit of the focused planning they offer lol.  Like when it comes to my days here. My writing, like I mentioned, is kind of all over the place.  Now, I am just working on getting some stuff out there...a couple of chap books , a few short stories while I finish my novels.

I do  have this feeling that I need to get my writing organized and out there because I don't know how much time I have left, and if this is what I am supposed to do while here I better get it done, you know? How much time do any of us have left?  We don't know, do we?  The more one looks into this idea of impermanence, the more one realizes how unpredictable our life spans in these forms are.

Habit Energy: Carrying Us Away From Source

Anyway...I guess I am getting off topic.  What I really want to talk about is our habit energy.  What do we tend to do out of automatic and mindless habit and what we tend to do out of mindfulness and awareness, knowing that it will bring us closer to what we really, really want.

First thing I want to do is dispel this idea that that there is a right way of thinking and being and a wrong way.  That there is good  and there is bad, right and wrong when it comes to our thoughts, feeling and actions. When we place those indicators and judgments on such a thing we tend to cling to what we judge as good or right  and we tend to fight, struggle, push away, run from, numb from, push down or stuff what we judge as bad, or wrong.  Man...that just causes a whole host of problems to add to our idea of "problems".

Let's instead look at it this way.  What thoughts, feelings, actions will bring you closer to what you really want and which ones will be hindrances to that experience? Well if we ask that...we need to know what we really want, don't we?

So What Do You Really Want?

What is it that you really want? There is so much about "The Law of Attraction" discussed in The Secret and Anderson's Three Magic Words that I like and can resonate with.  I do believe that "core belief" planted in our subconscious mind determines so much of what we experience in the physical world.  I have wrote about the placebo and nocebo effect, for example, and how a powerful belief in a propensity toward illness can create illness and a powerful belief in a remedy can relieve it.  Right? That has been scientifically proven.  So yes, if we can plant "seeds" in our store consciousness we can create a certain life experience.

So the question is...what do you plant?  You plant what you really want to see in your life experience.  And what is that?  Is it the things the Secret speaks to?  Like a new car, big house, the dream job, the soul mate, a million dollars, success or recognition? Think about that...is that what you really, really  want and if so...why do you want such things?  You want those things because you feel getting them will fill some hole in you, will ease your sense of "lack", unworthiness or suffering, right?  You believe getting these things will make you happy, peaceful, worthy, whole etc etc.  Right?

Think about that.  Is that true?  These are just things and grasping for them, striving for them...can actually cause more unhappiness and unease in the long run.  Let's face it, what we really want from these things is what we "assume" they will bring us.  We want the happiness, the peace of mind, the sense of being worthy, whole, complete...right?

Most spiritual teachings tell us we are already whole, already complete, already have everything around us we need to be happy inside us.  God has equipped us with a natural state of peace and happiness and all we have to do is connect with that Source energy, open up to it, remember it is there and voila we have what we really, really want. 

So what we want to plant, and water so it grows up into our conscious mind and experience are the things that will reconnect us, bring us closer to God, this Universal intelligence, "enlightenment".  The seeds you want to plant are seeds like love, compassion, joy, peacefulness, calm, gentleness and awareness.  These things are already in us...we really do not even have to plant them...we just need to water and nurture them so they can grow.

Weeds in the Garden: What You Really Don't Want

Nurturing also means taking care to prevent  the weeds  from growing in that mental garden.  Weeds will sprout up into our lives and they can grow abundantly, stopping us from seeing the peace and joy within.  They can seem to choke  out the so called "positive" making what we create seem "ugly" and "painful". If we are not mindful to water selectively the things that will take us closer to what  we want, the things that take us to the  unwanted can take over. 

If our attention is placed on these negative things: lack, loneliness, anger, violence, despair, danger, fear etc.  ...we are watering these weeds, we are encouraging them to grow.  They will grow...the law is real.  We will be mentally and emotionally consumed by the so called "negative" and our life experience will follow suit. 

This is not what we want, is it?  It takes us farther and farther away from the God given seeds of peace, joy, happiness, compassion and love that we really, really want to nourish and see grow.

Habit Energy: Watering the Negative

I have a habitual tendency, if I am not mindful, to get lost in negative thought streams.  I may wake up with a thought in my mind and my story telling nature  likes to quickly build narrative around it until I am lost in some epic tale that is often negative and not self or other serving. I may end up feeling like crap and not even know why. I may wake up thinking about a writing project I haven't finished and within minutes I am beating myself up for not completing or "doing" anything of value.

Watering the weed seeds can be a habit energy that we automatically fall into. We might not even realize we are doing it.  It is so much easier to stuff the weed seeds under layers of soil and pretend they don't exist than it is to acknowledge their reality.  It is so much easier to supress, repress, deny, avoid or numb from negative emotion and experience than it is to take care of it.  We can be consumed by the momentum of being carried away by the things that lead us farther away from God and our resistance to it.

We have a Choice

We always have a choice as to what seeds to water. To ensure we water the ones that bring us to our true nature we must be mindful and aware of where our attention is focused.  Simply focus on the joy and the peace and the God Source within you.  Allow that type of focus into  your daily experience.  When you wake up...instead of jumping on the habitual thought train that will take you speeding into a negative focus...breathe, focus on breath, focus on where your body is and time and space.  Be in the now...and watch your mind from a distance. Then be mindful how you make your tea, how you brush your teeth or care for your pets.  Fill those early hours with positive, inspirational literature or a  spiritual practice.  Maybe you want to meditate, pray or listen to a dharma talk  Start your day like that. And throughout the rest of the day, stop and notice where you are, what you are thinking, what you are doing and how you are doing it.  What seeds are you watering?  Bring self back to stillness many times a day, contemplating what you really want to see grow in your mental garden and in your life. Are you watering those seeds? Be aware!

What to Do With the Seeds When They Grow

Sometimes those seeds we wish wouldn't grow, will pop up into our conscious experience.  We are going to have to treat these weeds a lot differently than you would treat the weeds in your flower garden.  You are not going to pour noxious chemicals over them that kill so many things besides the weeds, you are not going to attack them by reaching in and pulling them painfully out of the earth, You are not going to snip them off at the stalk leaving the roots intact( that would be futile).  You are not going to pretend they aren't there either. 

What you need to do with these weeds is treat them the same way you would treat the rose that has bloomed beside them....with loving kindness. 

Huh?

 Do not judge one plant, one thought in that  mind of yours as beautiful, the other as ugly.  One as right and one as wrong. One that should be and one that shouldn't  Both should be because both are.  Neither good or bad...just are.  Recognize the weed...see it, touch it...know it is there.  And instead of struggling against its presence in your mind, your life, allow it to be. 

Then with loving kindness, embrace it.  Stop...take a deep breath and hold the negative thinking  in your mind. Look deeply at it and ask, "How , my little friend, did you come to be in my garden?"  Recognize how your mind once again has gotten lost in the habitual negativity and focused on that which does not serve you or the world.

Then wait for the insight to come to you which may involve an inspiration to do nothing more than gently letting go of the weed to focus on the rose, watering the rose, giving fertilizer to the rose as you commit to watering more selectively in the future.  As the roses around you bloom in the rich environment you provide, weeds will simply disappear. As we focus on the positive that is also in our lives, the negative will disappear.

If you want a rose garden...focus on roses not weeds. 

And also  know that Porsches, and Million Dollar Homes, trophy spouses or all the accolades in the world from others, will not make those roses bloom.  Water compassion, peace, mindfulness, concentration, love and joy instead.

Now what the he%& does that have to do with my writing disorganization?

I question what I want and what I am watering

I do want to get my writing out there and finish my novels but I ask why?  To embrace the writing process because it brings me joy or to get published so I can feel somewhat redeemed for spending all this time as a "non-productive" member of society?  I figure if someone validates my writing, I can say, "See, I didn't waste my time.  I was doing /being what I was suppose to do/be."

Is validation, redemption from others, a certain success as a writer what I really, really want?  No...I want connection with my Source.  When I write, I get that connection, that joy, that peace.  I feel like I am giving something.  That is why I write.

Watering the seeds of worldly desires like  publication and recognition  is not as important as watering the seeds of creativity, inspiration, joy and doing what I know I am here to do. I keep saying I am going to spend more time on the submission process rather than here but I keep coming back here to my fifty some readers a day. Go figure. I want to water this.

Hmmm!

What else can I say?

All is well in my world.

Andersen, Uell S.. Three Magic Words . BN Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Plum Village (October, 2018) Practicing in a stressful environment/ Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh 2004 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6KTb0QMyJ8

Plum Village ( May 2020)  Taming the Tiger Within/dharma talk by Br. Ngo Khong/Deer Park Monastery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfLZn15jdxo