Watching Growth
06/05/09 10:20
It is springtime and I am watching all of my little
seedlings grow each day. I have learned so much about
growth from attempting to garden for the first time.
I noticed now light, air and water impact the seeds.
The seeds that were nurtured with light, air and
water grew quickly. The others stayed small or did
not sprout at all. The care that I took or did not
take for each plant was showing up right before my
eyes.
I began to think about my own growth and the growth of my students. I realized that if I stop nurturing for a week or two (myself or my students), the growth stops. The relationship can even die all together. The more I take care of myself, the faster I grow! Right now I am taking better care of myself than I have in 10 years. Not surprisingly, I am sprouting like a weed in many areas of my life! It is interesting because we think we do not have time to nurture ourself and yet we expect change to occur. It just doesn't happen.
Furthermore, the Universe does not keep track of time for us. It has no preference for when we want to do the work. We could spend a lifetime doing very littler personal growth and it is no big deal for the Universe. However, it is a big deal for our personal health and our relationships. If we grow and transform, we will have less suffering. I don't know about you, but less suffering sounds good to me!
My yoga teacher once told me that the amount of nurturing we do for ourselves (deep nurturing, not superficial) is equal to the amount of self-esteem that we have within. So if we never take time to nurture ourselves, we likely have low self-esteem. When we begin to nurture ourselves our self-esteem will grow accordingly. A pretty interesting idea to think about! I know that my Type A friends give me a strange look when I tell them this. But in the end, most admit that their high self-esteem is closely tied to their competence- and thus may not be high self-esteem at all.
So maybe we should all begin to garden as a form of self-reflection (svadyaya). I think it has been a lovely yogic teaching tool for me!
I began to think about my own growth and the growth of my students. I realized that if I stop nurturing for a week or two (myself or my students), the growth stops. The relationship can even die all together. The more I take care of myself, the faster I grow! Right now I am taking better care of myself than I have in 10 years. Not surprisingly, I am sprouting like a weed in many areas of my life! It is interesting because we think we do not have time to nurture ourself and yet we expect change to occur. It just doesn't happen.
Furthermore, the Universe does not keep track of time for us. It has no preference for when we want to do the work. We could spend a lifetime doing very littler personal growth and it is no big deal for the Universe. However, it is a big deal for our personal health and our relationships. If we grow and transform, we will have less suffering. I don't know about you, but less suffering sounds good to me!
My yoga teacher once told me that the amount of nurturing we do for ourselves (deep nurturing, not superficial) is equal to the amount of self-esteem that we have within. So if we never take time to nurture ourselves, we likely have low self-esteem. When we begin to nurture ourselves our self-esteem will grow accordingly. A pretty interesting idea to think about! I know that my Type A friends give me a strange look when I tell them this. But in the end, most admit that their high self-esteem is closely tied to their competence- and thus may not be high self-esteem at all.
So maybe we should all begin to garden as a form of self-reflection (svadyaya). I think it has been a lovely yogic teaching tool for me!