Bye-bye weeds; time to clean out life’s garden bed

It’s the first day of spring – we say goodbye (hopefully) to winter weather and hello to beautiful blossoms and comfortable t-shirt conditions.  It’s also the time when we may reflect on what changes we may actually want, or need, to make in our own lives.

The first of the year usually causes many to want to make a change for the better; whether it’s to eat well, exercise more, lose weight, simplify material possessions, focus on positive relationships, become more mindful or gain spiritual awareness…a new year usually brings with it the expectation of change.

And it’s usually about this time of year when many will come to realize whether they’ve made good on the changes they hoped would make their lives better.  Have new eating habits made them feel better, has the scale changed dramatically, do they get the urge to walk or exercise because it’s a new habit, have relationships gotten stronger, have they been able to declutter their homes, minds, and life?  Are they more mindful and aware?

We tend to take on more than we can chew, when we decide to make grand plans to change our lives, and that’s usually why we end up making some of the same resolutions over and over again, year after year.  Whether it’s to continue the new habits we’ve formed or whether it’s to review, reflect and make another change in order to get back on track, we learn as we go, stick to what works and give in when it doesn’t.

But what if we don’t want to give in?  What if we really want to make a change and we just can’t quite figure out how to get the results we’re hoping for? 

This is where we have to learn from spring and what this season means.  Spring is a time for renewal, growth, possibilities, and promise.  Our lives are like that of a garden bed – the soil needs to be enriched, the perennials are enduring but still need attention to blossom in the new season and the annuals, while temporary, need special consideration so that their roots can take hold and they can thrive in their new environment. 

But the garden will not provide what we hope for if the weeds are left to take over.  The weeds will take more than they give, they will smother the perennials and they will prevent the annuals from thriving in their new home.  The weeds will remain strong and durable, while the perennials and annuals will wither and die.

The weeds in our lives can come in many forms and like a true garden weed, it can sometimes be difficult to tell a weed from a flower.  The trick is to identify the weeds that are preventing your garden from growing and while we may not be able to pluck every weed, we can at least make some changes so that the weeds do not take control.  When weeds are preventing renewal, growth, possibilities or promise, we need to sincerely look at what changes we can make to set our daily lives on a better, more positive course.   

This sort of change can’t happen overnight but then, spring takes its time settling in and the garden does not grow in a day.  And as with a beautiful garden bed, a change for the better in our lives takes patience, care, nourishment and constant attention to be at its most optimal.  But with time and a commitment to achieve positive growth, our lives will thrive and we will get back what we sow into them. 

Happy spring and happy gardening!