There are so many green and growing things on our property at this time of year! (As I’m writing this, it’s the beginning of June). Our garden and berry patch are thriving! Watching all of the trees and flowers flourish is one of my favorite parts about living where we do. Tending this property, taking back the overgrown places, and cultivating the growing things brings joy to my heart.
We moved in around the middle of March 2019, and our first spring here brought so many wonderful surprises! Dogwood trees, Japanese maple, plum and pear trees, and several types of flowers blossomed soon after we moved in. It was a wonderful welcome!
The many varieties of daffodils on our property just about take over the front yard each spring, and it’s beautiful! Little trumpets announcing spring is on its way. Every January, I begin looking for the tiny green stems shooting up through the frozen ground. Promises of what is to come. Each time I see them, hope and joy fill my heart.
The previous owners had done so much to make this place pop with color throughout the spring and summer. They were obviously very intentional about planting things that would blossom at different times of the year so that there is never-ending life and color from late winter through autumn.
The daffodils seemingly pop up with little to no care from us. The bulbs were planted in the ground at some point, but they pop up when they're ready and go dormant when they want to. They do their own thing. They’re my kind of flowers! While I love to tend all the growing things on our property, I also have to admit that low maintenance plants are my favorites!
Which means our vegetable garden is something I love and is sometimes also an annoyance for me. For the past few years, we’ve started growing our vegetable plants from seeds rather than buying plants from one of the many local stores. It’s a little more effort on our part, but it’s also extremely satisfying watching the seeds for tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and sweet peppers sprout in their tiny pots on our kitchen window sill, waiting for the right time to be transferred to the garden.
Green beans, on the other hand, are planted in seed form straight to the garden each year. The sprouts must be tended to and cared for just like the seedlings for the other plants in their kitchen window pots. And then there's the continual process of watering, weeding, and eventually harvesting.
We must be far more intentional with green beans than with daffodils. Not once have I watered the daffodils. I don’t pull any weeds that grow up around them. At the end of their growing season, I don’t prune them or do anything to prepare them for next spring. They do very well when left to themselves.
At times, we can be lulled into believing our mental and emotional health are more like daffodils than green beans. Often, we don't pay much attention to how our hearts and minds are doing. We don't check in. We're focused on so many other things. We assume our hearts and minds are taking care of themselves.
I’m sure a few green bean plants would survive if I didn’t care for them. But I also know that with care, my green bean plants do far more than just survive. My mental and emotional health don't immediately plummet if I don't check in, but I’m interested in more than just surviving or just getting by.
And so choosing to be more intentional and paying attention to the thoughts that feel "automatic" and checking in with my heart to see what emotions are bubbling to the surface are simple ways to take care of myself, but they don't just happen on their own. I have to be intentional. I have to choose to take care of my heart and mind.
Green beans.
Not daffodils.
If you’re interested in learning more about caring for your heart and mind, please feel free to send me an email or schedule some one-on-one time with me. And consider subscribing to my blog, where I post lots of helpful suggestions on how you can begin (and continue) this journey of recovering your blueprint!
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