Stay connected to the Source of life - Part 4

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 26

Roots that go deeper into the soil sustain the tree when the storms hit. Staying connecting to the Source is like building your house on the rock.

Whatever storms you face, no matter how hard the wind blows, you will stand secure knowing who you are. And because you are connected to the Source of life, and this life flows in and through you, you can overcome every obstacle.

Nature shows that after every storm the sun comes out again. In order to remain stable, secure and unshaken, you must settle your roots deep into the soil of Life.

He, who builds his house on the rock, when the winds and storms of life come, will stand, for you are focused on the final result. You will give your attention to the end result.

Indoors and Outdoors

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 22

Certain seeds are sown indoors early spring in order for them to begin to germinate and be ready to be transplanted outdoors in the garden once the weather warms up. Other seeds are sown directly into the outdoor soil in warmer temperatures.

Similarly, when you're tending the garden of your heart, some issues are worked out privately (indoors) where the interference and harshness of adverse conditions i.e. negative criticism, is less likely to endanger your growth process. Once you are stronger, you can now be 'transplanted into the outer garden'; your growth is now publicly evident.

For example, if you're dealing with personal heart issues, this may be something that you want to work on privately until you've come to a certain level of growth and you are now in a position to share this sensitive area with others for their benefit. This is where your growth has become evident to others.

Other areas may not be of a private nature. It may be a business project you're working on or promoting. The growth of your plans is seen publicly as you grow your business.

Whatever it is you're working on, whether privately or publicly, ensure that you nurture and protect your garden for continued growth to the point of bearing fruit.

Protecting the garden of the heart - Part 3

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 21

Eradicating weeds

In order for a garden to thrive, eradicating weeds is necessary to ensure proper plant growth.

What damage can weeds do to your garden?

Weeds strangle your plants and also compete with them for the nutrients in the soil.

Weeds of the heart

In the same way weeds are detrimental to your garden, internal weeds are detrimental to your heart.

How do you identify the weeds of the heart?

Identify those internal and external issues that are draining your energy and sucking the life from you. What about those things that are making you depressed? Consider past hurts; are you rehashing them?

Take each issue and dig deep down to find the root cause of it. Ask as many questions necessary to find the answer. Once you've identified the root, how could you eradicate it completely?

1) Make a decision that you would remove it from your life; whether it's an internal (heart issue) or external issue (environment or other people related issue).

2) If this issue could physically be removed or changed, then do so.

3) If it's an internal issue (i.e. a hurt, negative emotion), make a conscious shifting of your thought pattern. Stop feeding it with your dwelling on it. Begin to engage in more positive thoughts, finding the good out of bad situations or finding some other positive aspect of your life to focus on.

Regular inspection of the garden of your heart will keep weeds from overtaking it and allow you to grow to your fullest potential to enjoy life.

Protecting the garden of the heart - Part 2

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 20

How to protect your heart

When you've started a garden, if precautionary measures are not taken, pests and bugs can attack and destroy it. When you have young plants in your garden, they need to be protected from the frost.

It is also essential to protect your heart from the elements, from pests and bugs, as well. Consider the following:

1) Bring tender plants indoors to protect them from freezing temperatures.
When you're faced with an unfavourable encounter, if possible, remove yourself from the situation in order to protect your heart from further hurt or insult.

2) Plants need to be watered to keep them from drying out, whether they're indoors or outdoors.
Continued watering of your heart with positive affirmations and connection with God keeps your heart tender and compassionate towards others.

3) Protect plants from being trampled on by pests by planting other plants to repel them.
Avoid engaging in negative conversations and disconnect yourself from negative associations. Negative influences destroy positive thinking and deprive you of healthy inner growth.

4) If blossoms of plants have been destroyed they may recover.
Assess the hurt that you may have suffered. Look for the positive outcome of that situation instead of focusing on the hurt or look for the lessons learned or perhaps use your situation to help someone who may be going through the same thing.

5) Practicing preventative measures to ensure your garden is protected would limit or eliminate destruction to ensure you have a good harvest.

Apart from avoiding negative events, pay attention to the thoughts you're focused on or even those that may casually pass across your mind. Replace them with a positive thought or outcome.

Keeping your heart protected from negative invaders allows the flow of good to continue to enter and enrich your life.

Preparing the garden of the heart

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 16

Dad and our children began preparing the ground for our garden. The grass-covered grounds showed evidence of a previously existing garden but no work had been done on it for quite some time.

Today, we were all outside working on the new garden; plowing the ground with forks and uprooting the roots of grass and weeds.

As you survey and assess the ground of your heart to determine what changes you need to make, you may recall a time when you were working away to make changes or to achieve a particular goal. This may bring back memories of how you were at one point in your life.

The memory is evidence of what once existed, just as the overgrown garden on our grounds. But now your experience has also overgrown with grass and weeds; the discouragements and failures of what could have been or what used to be.

You can start afresh with new desires, plans and goals. Begin from where you are, glean lessons learned from your mistakes and get on the journey to changing the garden of your heart and your life inside out.

Changing Inside Out Now! Tending the garden of the heart - Day 14

Qualities of a fertile, nutrient-enriched heart

When soil is nutrient-enriched, it is very easy to work with, for you, the gardener, as well as, for the seeds that are sown in it. Hard soil is difficult to work with and needs a lot of hands-on treatment to loosen it.

In high school, our agriculture class had a project to work on. Each student was given a small area to grow a garden. The most tedious part was getting the land ready.

Many of us worked the hard soil. When we tried to turn over the soil with the forks, we'd rock back and forth on them for a while before the soil loosened. Some of the guys in my class had a secret method. You could tell the difference between the ones who really took the time to nurture the soil back to health because it was soft and now easy to work with compared to the ones who perhaps didn't have a clue as to how to restore the soil to a healthy state to produce healthy crop.

When the soil of your heart is well nourished, you find it easy to get along with others and others with you. Consider the following as evidence of a nutrient-enriched heart and compare them to your own:

Nutrient-enriched soil: easy to work with, soft, absorbs water easily, seeds germinate well

Nutrient-enriched heart:
- willingness to learn
- willingness to change
- easy to work with/get along with
- has a wealth of information
- willing to share with others
- is receptive of others
- is flexible
- teachable
- people are drawn to you
- happy
- joyful
- fun

Where do you see yourself? Need some working on? Ignoring that area and saying, "Oh, well, that's the way I am," is not the way to deal with it. Recognizing there is a deficiency is the first step to creating change.

Many of us have deficiencies in different areas of our lives. Recognizing where you are and finding ways to enrich that area of your life is certainly a step in the right direction to creating change and a balanced life.

Changing Inside Out Now! Tending the garden of the heart - Day 13

What kind of harvest do you want?

Determining the kind of harvest you want let's you know what type of seeds you should sow and what type of garden you're going to grow.

If you want a vegetable garden, you're not going to sow flower seeds and expect to harvest vegetables. Now, if you want a combination of a flower garden and a vegetable garden, you sow the appropriate seeds to harvest your desired outcome.

Similarly, you want to sow seeds in the heart that will bring you a harvest of love, joy, peace, health, prosperity and wholeness - a well-rounded life.

The seeds you sow into your heart come in the form of your thoughts and your words which results in the actions you're taking on a daily basis.

What are you thinking about on a regular basis? What feelings are these thoughts producing? Are they making you feel joyful, at peace or angry and frustrated? Your thoughts, producing your feelings, causes you to act or react externally.

Whatever you are thinking, which is directly affecting your feelings, is the reason for your reaction. The key to turning this around is to stop the negative thought right in its tracks and replace it with a positive one. Find the positive side in every situation. There's always light, even if it's just a glimmer of hope, move towards it. Replace the negative with the positive glimmer of hope. Focus on it, just as you would the negative thought. Feel the emotion and before long you will act or react in a positive way, producing positive results.

Your words are as a direct result of what you've been thinking. I recall a scripture which says, (paraphrase) "It's not what goes into a man (person) that defiles him because it does not go into his heart but his stomach. But it's what comes out of a man (person) that defiles him (makes him unclean). Because what comes out of a man (person's words) comes out of his heart."

You tell what's going on in a person's heart from what they're constantly talking about, which is the fruit of their lips.

Begin today to change your seed thoughts and your words and actions will follow suit to produce the harvest you need.

Changing Inside Out Now! Tending the garden of the heart - Day 12

Reach for the light

Have you ever noticed indoor plants how they gravitate to and reach for the light? It is said that plants need the light in order to make chlorophyll which makes them green. Plants also use the energy from light to make them grow. If you move an indoor plant from it's position and place it somewhere else, it would change direction and grow in the direction of the light.

As you tend the garden of your heart, you must reach for the light. Opening your heart to love allows the light to shine in your heart. Open your heart and let the light of love shine in. Coupled with 'nutrients' you've added to your heart's soil, you'll begin to grow daily.

The more you open your heart to love, the more light shines in and the greater the energy flow, breaking walls, renewing and rejuvenating the core of your being. Your light will shine outward and draw others to you.

Changing Inside Out Now! Tending the garden of the heart. Day 1

Spring is here!

Time to get our gardens ready; sowing our seeds into fertile ground. What an exciting time!

But what about the soil of your heart. Is it fertile? Or does it need tending? Seeds germinate and thrive well in nutrient enriched soil.

Is the soil of your heart nutrient enriched? How can you tell?

One way is to determine if you're growing or if you're stagnant. Are you learning? Are you absorbing information into your heart that's enhancing and promoting healthy personal growth? Are you open to new ideas and learning new ways of doing things?

Spring is the mark of a changing season; from the cold winter to warmer temperatures. The snow is melted, birds are chirping outside your window, animals are giving birth, and it's as if the whole world comes alive.

Nature teaches us that in order for growth to occur there must first be change. If you are inflexible to change, you'll find yourself struggling instead of going with the flow. When you go with the flow, you're allowing the natural order of things to occur in your life. Frustration is replaced by peace, and you'll live longer with less stress.

Change is a natural part of life. When you embrace change, you allow growth to take place; moving you from the seedling stage to maturity.

Embrace change today and grow!