WEEDING MY THOUGHTS
My dream for our landscaping is to have a succulent garden with as many varieties of succulents and Mediterranean style plants that will grow and thrive in southern Oregon. This means that we currently have a lot of bark covering our front and back yards as we patiently wait for things to grow, spread out and fill in all the empty space. This also means that there are a lot of weeds.
As much as I want everything to be full grown now, I really enjoy watching my plant babies grow, and I actually enjoy pulling the weeds around them. It’s soothing, feels productive, and always reminds me that its best to pull those weeds when they are babies themselves. When I pull them early, they come out with ease. When I wait, they get big quite fast and it just feels like a chore as I need to get my gloves and tools. When I wait, some of them take root in the middle of or start to crowd the plants I’ve actually planted. So I get those suckers early.
Without fail, as I’m out there pulling the tiny weeds I start thinking about how its also best when I pull my thought weeds early, as soon as I recognize them, before they take root and take over the good things in my life I’ve planted. Thoughts that suck energy from what is really important to me. Thoughts that don’t help me. Thoughts that crowd the good thoughts. Thoughts that don’t serve my greatest good. Thoughts that send me in the wrong direction. Thoughts that if I am not careful, I will actually to start to believe and become. So I pull those energy suckers early now too.
Again, when I get them early, its actually quite easy to uproot them. Here are a couple of my mental weeding tools:
I just say out loud, “NO” and I follow up with a thought that reflects who I really am.
I tell myself the opposite, which sends me in the right mental direction.
I pray.
I ask my husband or a friend to tell me the truth if I’m too tired to.
I turn on positive music.
Or I just Change the Channel
My yard is looking pretty good these days and my life is too.