Standing in a garden
I got up early today because it is the only quiet time of day. Because i am used to it. The first thing i did was make some coffee. Then i opened the sliding doors to stand in the garden. I had spent the best part of yesterday transplanting nastursiums. I checked on them. I also checked on some of the calendulas. I did some weeding. I checked on the lettuces and peas. Then i stood and listened to the birds singing. There was a wren - very loud. And a wood pigeon. There was a chaffinch. There was a song thrush.
Now that the garden is being looked after it seems much larger than it really is. Previously it was a pocket sized nettle filled hell hole. Now it is this tiny jewel of colour and serenity. What makes the garden beautiful? The same thing that makes every other thing in the world beautiful - that it is loved and cared for. If someone cares for something, then no matter how worn out and old it is, it will still be beautiful. The more people care for it the better - but the most important person who needs to care for it is me - or you. The individual who cares. The thing is that caring and love works both ways - if you love something and care for something truly, it then shows up on your face as well. On your body. In your very being. It does not matter what it is, but it needs to come from that place - that pure place in the heart. And what is also very interesting i think is that, at first you may not be entirely convinced about it, this pure place in your heart - but the important thing is to never give up. To keep on caring, until one day it is a real place. It is in fact like looking after a garden.
I think the school's garden is also a case in point. This year, we received much feedback about how wonderful it looked. It is not because it looks wonderful alone - which is does. What is the most important thing about it, is that it is clear that someone cared, someone looks after it. And that is what makes it look so fantastic.
It also does not take very long for something to look wonderful. I think if you care for something daily for about three weeks, it makes a difference. An hour a day, for three weeks. It isn't really a lot.
And after that, because it has worked so well, what happens is that you just want to keep caring for it. You just want to keep looking after it. It is a little bit of magic.
Last night i had a dream about an old friend, in Singapore. It was very strange - it began with us being at the airport and i had forgotten the passports. I was really upset because i knew that it was too early for us to go to Singapore and yet here we were. Then i dreamt of this old friend and it was so nice to see him again. He was with his family and we were just chatting and laughin, like old times. I also then dreamt of a child at the school who was lost - it was a terrible dream. I dreamt he had been kidnapped and everyone was so worried about it. It turns out he had just wandered off somewhere, but my god, it was so awful for the few hours we thought he had been gone forever.
OK, time to do more gardening. I am taking out all the weeds and starting to put bits of the garden to bed as i won't be around for the next six weeks. Sigh.
Now that the garden is being looked after it seems much larger than it really is. Previously it was a pocket sized nettle filled hell hole. Now it is this tiny jewel of colour and serenity. What makes the garden beautiful? The same thing that makes every other thing in the world beautiful - that it is loved and cared for. If someone cares for something, then no matter how worn out and old it is, it will still be beautiful. The more people care for it the better - but the most important person who needs to care for it is me - or you. The individual who cares. The thing is that caring and love works both ways - if you love something and care for something truly, it then shows up on your face as well. On your body. In your very being. It does not matter what it is, but it needs to come from that place - that pure place in the heart. And what is also very interesting i think is that, at first you may not be entirely convinced about it, this pure place in your heart - but the important thing is to never give up. To keep on caring, until one day it is a real place. It is in fact like looking after a garden.
I think the school's garden is also a case in point. This year, we received much feedback about how wonderful it looked. It is not because it looks wonderful alone - which is does. What is the most important thing about it, is that it is clear that someone cared, someone looks after it. And that is what makes it look so fantastic.
It also does not take very long for something to look wonderful. I think if you care for something daily for about three weeks, it makes a difference. An hour a day, for three weeks. It isn't really a lot.
And after that, because it has worked so well, what happens is that you just want to keep caring for it. You just want to keep looking after it. It is a little bit of magic.
Last night i had a dream about an old friend, in Singapore. It was very strange - it began with us being at the airport and i had forgotten the passports. I was really upset because i knew that it was too early for us to go to Singapore and yet here we were. Then i dreamt of this old friend and it was so nice to see him again. He was with his family and we were just chatting and laughin, like old times. I also then dreamt of a child at the school who was lost - it was a terrible dream. I dreamt he had been kidnapped and everyone was so worried about it. It turns out he had just wandered off somewhere, but my god, it was so awful for the few hours we thought he had been gone forever.
OK, time to do more gardening. I am taking out all the weeds and starting to put bits of the garden to bed as i won't be around for the next six weeks. Sigh.
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