Weeding the garden of your time

Tending the garden of your heart - Day 94

When it comes to gardening in the colder climates time is of great essence. The gardener knows that he or she needs to use the time wisely, observing the weather conditions and getting the seeds in the ground as quickly as possible - not too early due to frost that could kill the seeds and not too late so that the plants have a chance in the warm weather to bear fruit before the cold weather comes again. The gardener learns to use his or her time wisely to ensure a successful harvest.

Once our time is gone, we could never retrieve that moment, it is gone forever. Therefore observing how you use your time will give you indicators as to how it's being spent and what adjustments need to be made to gain the maximum benefit of your time.

6 tips to weeding the garden of your time

1) Observe your daily routines.

You'll begin to see patterns emerge - things that you do on a regular basis. Be the silent observer of you.

2) Prioritize your regular daily activities.

Which activities are high priority and which ones are low? In your rating of these priorities, are you placing low priorities before your high priority activities?

3) Look closer at your low priority activities.

Are these necessary to engage in or can you limit the amount of time you spend on your low priority activities to give more attention to those high priority tasks?

4) How would you feel if you got all of your high priority activities completed?

Would that give you a sense of accomplishment or even a sense of empowerment knowing that you've finished what you set out to do? Once you've completed your high priority tasks, then you can either focus on your low priority activities or look for other items which you can complete before engaging in low or non-essential activities.

5) Delegating

Some of your high priority items and even some of your low priorities can be delegated to free you up to get more done.

6) Measure the amount of time you spend on a project.

When you give yourself a certain amount of time to work on a project, i.e. 15 minutes, 30 minutes etc. you set yourself to work faster within the allotted time as opposed to just saying you'll finish the assignment without a time limit. You're tempted to go slowly using more time to complete the task than if you put yourself on a timer.

When you put a system in place using all of the above, you'll find you get more done within a shorter period as you continue weeding the garden of your time.

Weeding the garden of your social life

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 93

Whether it's a vegetable, fruit or flower garden, a gardener is very particular about what he allows to grow in his garden of choice. Therefore, he or she keeps a constant watch over the garden and regularly weeds it for unwanted 'social' interaction.

Because the people we hang out with on a regular basis tend to influence the way we think and ultimately behave, it is therefore imperative that we choose our friends with care. Our friends should lift us to a higher level than where we are and encourage us to be the best we can be. If you find that the friends you're hanging out with are not leading you in a way that enhances your life it's time to think about weeding the garden of your social life.

Consider the following 4 tips to weeding the garden of your social life:

1) Know where you're going

When you know where you're going in life you drive in the direction to your destination. You'd probably think it crazy if someone got into their car and just started driving and had no destination in mind. "Where are we headed?" you ask, "I don't know," they reply. You might probably want to jump out of the car at the first stop sign.

Similarly, if you don't know what direction your life is headed, how could you make plans to go there and more so how could you then harbour relationships that move you in the direction you're going?

2) Place people in their rightful place

It is important to see everyone you meet through the eyes of love and place them in their rightful place. Some are there to go with you to the next level to reaching to your destination while some are put in your path to receive something from you. The people you meet who are there to receive from you may not necessarily be the ones to be regular friends.

I would use Jesus as an example here. Jesus choose 12 disciples - friends he would regularly communicate with - he would regularly hang out with these guys and they'd go practically everywhere together. Then there were all the other people he would come in contact with. He loved them all but they were not his regular companions.

3) Choose your friends with care

After you know where you're going and you're consciously aware of the type of friends you desire, you can now choose your friends with extra care. Jesus handpicked his 12 disciples - those with whom he would impart his knowledge and wisdom and with whom he shared a deeper spiritual bond, his deepest secrets and his life.

4) Choose your social events with care

Some events, like some weeds, may not be in themselves bad but they may be misplaced meaning that they may not serve your purpose. If you decided to grow a vegetable garden, dandelions have no business in your vege garden. Certain social events may suck the life out of you instead of enhancing and uplifting you. Have you ever gone to an event and you left feeling more drained than when you arrived? Then perhaps this is not the place for you at this point in your life.

Choose social events that add to and draw you closer to your destiny.

Your social life can be a power house for your growth and ultimately your fruit bearing success if nurtured with care.

Weeding the garden of your career

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 92

Every seed contains in it the life it was meant to lead - cucumber seeds sown in soil to grow, blossom and bear cucumbers. Plants and trees follow their path, naturally. However, weeds can hinder the process if neglected and inhibit nutrients going to the fruit.

At times we find ourselves in careers that do not reflect who we are and our innate passion. This may be because we've considered the current career for only the monetary gain one gets from it and not from one's inner passion.

If you find yourself despising your job, your career, then, it is time to consider doing some weeding to getting into the place you were meant to be. Or if you find that your career is not fulfilling your inner passion and life purpose then you need to re-examine your position and move in the direction of beginning to make changes.

How do you weed out the garden of your career?

1) Decision

Knowing what you feel joy in doing or what you feel passionate about is the first step before you can make a decision to do what you love to do. Once you know that then you can move to the next step. What do you love to do?

2) Look for ways to get into the area of your passion.

If you are in a career you love generally but you are in one section that you despise, look for ways to get into the area of your passion.

For example, in the insurance industry, which was my previous field, there are many facets to work in, you could either be an agent or work in claims as an adjuster and even as an adjuster you could work as an auto adjuster, property adjuster, liability adjuster or all of these and more. So if you are currently an auto adjuster and hate it, but prefer being a proper adjuster, then, you look for opportunities to go in that direction.

Staying in a position that you hate is not healthy for your inner being and therefore you are not living your inner passion and fulfilling your destiny.

3) Develop the skills

If you feel that you lack the skills in what you love to do, stay where you are for now, if you can, and look for opportunities to develop the skills necessary for your area of passion. The internet is packed with information you can read on 'how to's'. You can go to your local library and get information, talk with other people in the field or even take local, online or correspondence courses.

If you'd like to start a business in your desired field but lack the confidence to do so, look for the opportunity to work with someone who is already in the field.

If you are open and willing to get out of your 'comfort zone' and take the risk of living your passion, doors will open for you to do what you desire to do one step at a time.

When you set your mind and intention to do what is natural for you and weed out the other things that are occupying your time, you'll find that you'll feel a sense of accomplish, joy and freedom in being you.

Take the steps necessary to begin weeding the garden of your career now.

Weeding the garden of your spirit

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 91

The garden soil provides essential nutrients for plants to grow. In order for the plants to receive the most benefit from the enriched soil, we need to keep it weed free.

The same is true of our spirit. If we are not constantly keeping watch and regularly weeding the garden of our spirits we will not be able to benefit from receiving the full 'nutrients' from our Source.

If our lives are cluttered with weed which choke out that which is essential for our survival and growth how can we expect to live to our fullest potential doing what we were meant to do naturally without being inhabited?

As the gardeners of our own lives, weeding comes with the territory and maintenance of your inner spirit is your responsibility.

How do we weed the garden of our spirit?

1) Spend more time in the silence

Every day we go out to the garden observing with watchful eyes to ensure that all is well. We are making connection with our garden and staying in tuned with what's occurring. Any changes are noticeable to us because we have familiarized ourselves with the daily changes of the plants.

It is this same daily acquaintance we have as we spend time in the silence with our Source. We become more familiar and in tuned with the things of the unseen. We are able to move freely with the changes of the Spirit and pick up more quickly on the Spirit's language.

2) Choose what you desire to come into your life

We have a vegetable garden and a flower garden. They are both in separate areas of yard. However, in our flower garden we have some tomatoes, watermelons and cantaloupe growing there. One part of the vegetable garden is bordered by marigolds and we have one other flower, not sure what it's called, growing in our garden which we decided to leave - it looks beautiful so we decided to observe it's growth.

Now, what we call weeds in themselves is not really bad, they're just misplaced. There may be things in your life that may not really be bad but they are taking up space which you have set aside for your 'vegetable or flower garden' - what you decided to grow in your life. At another place and time, they may be okay, but not just right now. You need to decide what is important to you and allow those things to come into and occupy your life and remove all that is not adding value to your desire at this point in time.

3) Encourage those things that contribute to your growth

The marigolds bordering the vegetable garden were placed there intentionally to aid in pest control. Marigolds are not vegetables and neither are they edible but they do add value in their contribution by helping our plants grow without being consumed by pests.

Now, say for instance you are a singer, you may read books about personal development. The books do not show you how to sing or perform but they may give you the tools necessary to conducting yourself in a manner that will keep you from falling into some of the traps that other singers have found themselves in and did not know how to ward off these 'pests' which eventually consume and destroyed them.

As you continue to weed the garden of your spirit, you awaken to new life, energy and unique creativity.

Weeding the garden of your mind

Tending the garden of the heart - Day 90

Garden weeding is a regular and sometimes daily occurrence in order to maintain a well cultivated garden. If you're not paying attention to your garden, your precious crop will be competing for the essential nutrients in the soil.

Our minds entertain many thoughts on a daily basis, many of them recurring over and over again, and some being more dominant than others.

And like our garden, you need to regularly monitor and weed your thoughts from the weeds of negativity in order for the positive thought crop to have the opportunity to grow from your focused attention.

If you pay attention to your thoughts, you begin to see a pattern to the thoughts that most dominate your mind. From there you can measure if these thoughts are positive in their creativity or negative. Are these thoughts creating the future I desire or am I trying to push away things from my life by focusing on that which I don't desire to see manifest in my reality? How can I change this thought to one that is positive? What is it I desire?

As you focus on thoughts that are more desirable and beneficial to you, they become your dominant thoughts and therefore feed off the nutrients of your focused attention, manifesting itself in your outer reality.

Whoever it is you've decided to be, you must allow those thoughts to take root and dominate your mind. Whenever thoughts come that do not match up with what you are becoming, replace them with that which you desire.

Practice renewing your mind daily. If you're used to allowing any thought occupy your mind, you can change this and create a new habit. Decide today that you will practice mental shift from negative thought or unwanted thought to positive or desired thought. Then, take it in small increments - one day, then two, then three and keep increasing it until it becomes way of life for you.

Your life will begin to change as you weed and maintain the garden of your mind and focus your attention to that which is enhancing your life.