Planting A Garden In Your Mind

By Frosty Wooldridge

The words you use define your mental acuity. The thoughts you think plant seeds that grow in your mind. By engaging positive words and thriving thoughts—you propel your mind toward a bountiful harvest of daily living. Plant these ideas into your mind for a renewal of your life, your energy and your outcomes.

In America today, you notice an endless stream of teens, college kids and employees looking down into their Smart phones.

At bars, women line the dance floor with a white light shining up into their faces from their phones as they stare into cyberspace. Many people walk into the woods with ear buds stuffed into their heads to vanquish any notion of a singing cardinal, chirping black bird or rippling of the rapids from a cascading stream.

They use their thumbs to write messages to some other person looking down into his or her phone awaiting communication blurted in truncated words. One aspect they all share in common: they cut themselves off from interacting with fellow human beings, friends and their community.

Such addictions create solitude; ultimately they create spiritual disconnection from life and finally, loneliness from personal contact.

We humans arrived at this juncture in history via a tribe, clan and/or community. We raised our children in the cultural container founded on human interaction, face-to-face and eye-to-eye.

In order to function, we need heart connection to our surroundings.

We need emotional attachment to other human beings. We need to feel a belonging in order to function positively in the world.

For parents willing to plant vibrant seeds in the gardens of their children’s minds, they must leave the Smart phone on the kitchen table. Play with their children at the park. Laugh while pushing them ever higher on the swing or race them down the slides or spin on the merry-go-round.

While out there in the park or on a hike in the woods, take off your shoes and thrust your feet into the cool grass. Slip out of your socks and plant your feet on a solid rock or into some moist sand. Reconnect your spirit with the vibrations of the universe. Enjoy a meaningful conversation with a friend while enjoying your connections to Mother Earth.

Instead of living inside the pitiless confines of a Smart phone, engage a child, stranger or friend in face-to-face conversation.

If you ever notice a “seed catalog”, the editors show you the results of the seeds via the bouquet of flowers. They invite you to see the results of what you plant in your garden.

The same applies with your mind. If you plant solitude via addiction to a Smart phone, you reap the coldness and lack of personal connection afforded by a face-to-face conversation.

You possess the power of decision. You infuse life with your love, empathy and creative energy. You may bring a message of empowerment by your personal interaction with others.

Therefore, choose what you plant in your mind.

• Plant happiness in your mind’s garden and express that flowering in your daily connection with others. A simple compliment to the grocery store cashier about her earrings brings a smile. A compliment to your neighbor about his beautiful lawn ushers special vibrations of happiness.

• Plant joy in your mind’s garden by celebrating a windy day by flying a kite in the local park. Share your Girl Scout Cookies with a homeless person on a street corner. Feed the ducks at the local pond or volunteer at the animal shelter.

• Spread good will in your home and community by your words and actions. Attend a city council meeting with ideas for improvements in the downtown area.

Remember that you create the container of community whereby men, women and children flourish by flowers you plant in your mind. When they flourish, your happiness, joy and good will spread to the four corners of the world.

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