Cultivate Your Life
Photo by Julian Paolo Dayag on Unsplash
When I close my eyes and think about life I see fields and fields of tall yellow crops. I can wander and wander, but in it I’m not lost. It seems as if I’ve found my place and I have my own little piece of land in the midst of it all. It doesn’t have tall trees or giant sunflowers. It doesn’t even have the tall yellow crops like the rest of the surrounding plots, but that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because it’s mine and I get to see to it daily.
I have my own tools to till the soil, plant seeds and lay out mulch. It’s a place where I can get on my hands and knees and get dirty. I can spend hours planning and circling, then planting and catering to. I’m not looking from left to right, simply within. Within this piece of earth that I get to call my own.
A daily routine can be meditative and forgiving. It can mold habits and shape character in a way that the sporadic and urgent could never do. It can mend behavior and renew your mind by providing a sort of shelter. Knowing you’re somewhere for a reason can be healing and create a sense of purpose. It gives you a path to follow and a piece of earth to maintain.
And it isn’t about growth at first, at least not the growth you can see. It’s more about the growth you can’t see. It’s about watering and saturating the soil with moisture, creating texture. It’s about the seeds within the soil taking root and staking claim underneath the surface. Getting rooted is vital. It’s a wait worth abiding by, because without this first step fully taking place, the new growth won’t make it. It needs time.
I need time to dig down deep and find meaning that can spread out and define a width worth growing for. I need time before bursting forth in life with no real direction, timing or grace. I need time to understand and listen, to drink water and take meaningful breaks.
I’m still not sure what it will all look like when my piece of earth is “fully grown,” but for me right now I think it’s safe to say I’m content with my own territories that I get to cover daily. Nothing is meaningless when you think about life in a way that is cultivating. I’m taking my time and appreciating each trip to get water or pull a weed or plant one more seed. I’m celebrating the new sprouts and unseen growth that’s covering territory beneath the surface. Healing within covers more territory than a thousand trips elsewhere. I’m not looking for anything more than what I have and that frees me from so much.
