Matt Borer – Yoga 4 Liberation, Austin TX

“The gentle spring rain permeates the soil of my soul.  A seed that has lain deeply in the earth for many years just smiles.”  -Thich Nhat Hanh

I have absolutely loved this quote since first reading it and come back to it pretty often.  I am of the mind that within all of us there lies a seed for every reaction and emotion we could have.  We also plant new seeds along the way that we have bought through experience be they positive or negative.  We all have seeds of love, compassion, anger, jealousy, etc.  Through introspection, meditation, and constant observation we can begin to notice how we are caring for these seeds and then hopefully change our behavior to improve our “green thumbs”!  

More often than not, we even define ourselves with our negative quirks and behavioral traits than we do with the positive ones;  ”Oh, Im just an impatient person.” , or “Im just very type A.”.  The beauty of any yogic or meditative practice is that you begin to learn that it is possible to change anything in your life you would like to with the proper care!  I liken this level of awareness to step One of A.A., “I have a problem.”  We all have many things we could change if we chose to, to become happier, healthier, and more effective humans.  The work (sadhna) is observing and deciding which seeds to water more, and which of those you can begin to stop watering.  (Step 2 can only come after step one!)

I find also that looking at behavior this way makes the behavior of others much more understandable.  You can begin to realize that we truly do all have many of the same seeds of behavior, but simply have different gardening skills!

What seeds are you overwatering and which ones need more attention?  What are you ingesting mentally and physically to create as soil for these concepts to grow?  Placing yourself in the best environment is the best preventative medicine.  Surround yourself with the best support system you can to foster the changes you are working on.  It is a hard and emotional task to realize that certain surroundings or people are in fact detrimental to your personal growth.   I have noticed often that as i evolve into what I believe is a better “me” and leave different practices behind, various friends have come and gone and some have even held a grudge.  When I quit drinking and going out so much I had friends that would actually give me a hard time about trying to become healthier.  Its an interesting study that others get as attached to your behavior as you do and find it hard to let you change and grow.  There is certainly a lot to ponder on here.  So put on some gloves and a floppy hat and get your hands dirty!