With love and patience, nothing is impossible.
~ Daisaku Ikeda
Patience is a difficult lesson that many of us are trying (read struggling) to learn. For myself, I thought I was a patient person until I had children. It was the 20 minute walk down our 200’ walkway that would push all my buttons, particularly since we generally were running late due to a missing shoe or clothes that suddenly needed to be changed or a book that must be brought along. Over the years, I have made significant improvements in this area (or so I think). Of course, it seems that whenever I feel that I’m becoming more patient, I get a lovely little test to remind me that I’m a work in progress.
Why is patience so important (and difficult)? It is a way of moving beyond our ego, it is a way of surrendering. Plants have an incredible ability to help us learn patience. Of course they do, they move at a much slower pace. As we learn patience, as we learn to surrender our ego, we more easily move into co-creative partnership with Nature. A benefit of this is that we discover, we are not alone nor do we need to do everything on our own. Co-creative partnership does not mean the Humans do all the work, it means that all of Nature works together (and yes, sometimes there is a balancing).
Spring came early this year in Pennsylvania (actually it was more like Summer). We had 80 degrees on days that the previous year there were several feet of snow on the ground. My body was saying that I need to work in the garden (as were my neighbors); however, when I checked in with the Garden, the message I got again and again was to stay out. I have worked enough with the Garden and the Plants to know to pay attention to this message. Still I watched as Lamium purpureum (Dead Nettle) took over my herb patch. I will admit, I had anxiety thinking, “If I don’t do something soon, this will be completely uncontrollable.” Well, isn’t that part of the problem, we are always trying to control. I did get excited as I saw some of the Plants beginning to return from the underworld. I thought, surely I can clean up the beds now. Again, “No.” Well, at least I can take down the dead Sunflower stalks, there aren’t any seeds left. “No.”
Earlier this month, I received confirmation of the Garden’s messages. We had snow and heavy frosts, the “weed” cover and the dead Plants provided protection for the newly emerged Plants. Plus the birds continue to use the stalks of the bigger Plants as a platform from which to sing their songs and rest their wings. This did help me to relax and wait. I could still feel the pressure from my neighbors to clean up the garden (they do have rather pristine yards).
I was so excited when I returned home from California earlier this month because I received the okay from the Garden to begin work. I had great plans, I was going to enlarge the garden, prepare all the beds, begin planting some of the hardier crops, move some perennials ... And then, I broke my toe. Now all I could do was ice it and keep my foot elevated. I had work to do! How was I supposed to do that with a broken toe?! See what I mean, about having more lessons in patience?
Well, here’s the thing, my toe is almost completely healed now and I was able to work in the garden for the first time earlier this week. And I was completely surprised by what I saw. You see, all that time that I thought I needed to be working in the garden, the Plants were taking care of it. The Lamium purpureum is dying on his own, no need to take the time to pull him. He and other “weeds” have helped to provide nutrients to the soil and provide protection for the young Plants. (And food for me.)
For years, I have thought that I had to work hard to have a healthy garden. When I first started, I listened to others (humans) and thought the garden had to be completely weed free. Years ago, as my Love affair with Plants grew and I began to communicate with the “weeds”, I realized that many of them were providing a service for the garden. I started following their advice of the Plants for who to take out and who to keep in, sometimes we did have to negotiate. When I lived on the farm, I developed a relationship with the Groundhogs who started weeding my herb garden for me, they were particularly fond of the Ragweed and stayed away from the herbs that I planted.
Of course, in order to move into this relationship with the “weeds” and groundhogs, I had to be willing to have a garden that most likely would not be on the front of a magazine (Whew! That’s a relief!), I needed to be willing to communicate with other Beings, I needed to have the courage to Trust, and I needed to learn patience (at least a little). After years of this, I am still learning. And what I am learning is that I do not need to work as hard as I thought, for I do not need to do it all on my own. This is a partnership. This is also a give and take. So it does mean that I’m willing to honor the other species too. When the Japanese Beetles came into my garden last year, I set 2 Basil plants aside just for them. I promised that I would not harvest these and I didn’t and they for the most part stayed away from the rest of my Plants including their favorite, the Roses.
This is only 1 example of what can happen when we can listen to Nature and when we can be willing to move at a different pace than we think we should. When we can do this, whole worlds can open up. We can use our energy more efficiently. (For while the Plants were preparing the garden, I could focus my energy on other projects.) It is the difference of walking upstream and going with the flow. Having patience and awareness, allows us to tap into the flow or the “Yes” vibration of the universe. It allows us to access resources we didn’t realize were there. All of this, allows our stress level to decrease. Which we all know that too much stress is detrimental to our health, even if our culture feeds on stress.
As I said, Plants are great teachers for patience. I have found Trees to be particularly helpful. Simply spending time in Nature (particularly sitting, meditating, or napping) helps to adjust our rhythms, helps our breathing to slow, and our nervous system to relax. We can say that spending time in Nature allows us to access our Heart intelligence. The Heart has the broader perspective, is more comfortable with patience than the brain who can overthink anything and create an urgency out of nothing.
Good energy hygiene (such as smudging, egg limpias, sacred bathing) can also to help increase one’s patience. When we do not take the time to clear the excess/unwanted energy, it clogs up our energetic field (and attracts more). This increases our level of anxiety and makes it more difficult to access the Universal flow. Anxiety is an adversary of patience.
Letting go of the “shoulds” also helps to increase one’s patience. As I shared with my garden, I needed to let go of what a garden should look like. Often, we have ideas of where we should be in our lives or how we or our house should appear or many other shoulds. It truly is to everyone’s benefit for us to release these and to accept and Love ourselves and others as we are, imperfections and all. When we can let go of the shoulds, we open ourselves to other possibilities and we can enter the flow. Through my work, I have seen that many of the shoulds are a bandaid for an earlier wound. The Plant Spirits and Flower Essences can help us to heal these wounds and release these bindings, allowing us to more easily express and experience who we truly are.
I encourage you to take some time this Spring to be with the Plants and Nature, to stretch your patience muscles, and to release what is feeding the impatience. As Francis Bacon says, “Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.” It is time that we take possession of our souls and start living the lives we are meant to live. The world will be a more beautiful place for this. And remember, it is about progress not perfection. There are always more lessons to be learned, this is the gift of Life.
