What Seeds You Water

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity and celebration; weddings, graduation parties, fun and not-so-fun endings.  But one of the slower moments came from watching Wayne Dyer on Super Soul Sunday, in case you don’t know, Oprah’s alternative to Sunday morning sermons and televangelists.   A snapshot would be this:  you can’t afford to think anything but what you want in your life, you have to replace your thoughts.   This isn’t wishful thinking.  This is replacing your thought patterns.  For yogi’s it’s mantra work.  And it’s something that I’m actively practicing and working on in my life.  But sometimes you have to dig down and figure out the root of where the bad thought or seed is coming from.   And that work is messy but necessary. 

Today, I had conversation with a friend about how horrible everything was for them and how they had no choice in what they were doing and why.  After I hung up and started to drive home the thought came up “it depends on what seeds you water.”  Even when things are not so rosy, it’s one thing to feel bad and feel discouraged, it’s another to let that turn into the frame of the picture of your life and that this bad thing will be all that I experience.   If I actively affirm all of the bad things that go on in my life, I’m going to feel like crap.  But turning that into an active affirmation of positivity is slow process sometimes.    And I have to believe in what I’m saying.  So digging down into the roots of the weeds of my garden and looking at them, replacing them with some new seeds and watering, these things take time.  And patience. 

Use Everything by Rick Belden

I’ve been running from parts of myself for years

even as I believed I was embracing them

I’m still running

but I’m getting tired

I can’t run as fast and as far as I used to

and even when I do

I can’t seem to find the places where I used to go.

I guess it must be time for something else.

sometimes the only way to rise is to sink

sometimes the only way to move is to be still.

can I sit naked and wait

can I stand my ground in the rain while the lightning

strikes all around me

can I change my way of thinking

without thinking

can I remember to be kind to myself.

bad luck is the language of the unconscious

the body is the gateway to the knowledge of the soul

every experience has healing potential

every person I meet is my mirror.

life’s true work

is the work of the soul

the challenge is to love myself

to be with myself

in my body

always

in every moment

no matter what’s going on.

it’s all soul work

use everything.