tranquility

The mind is a garden. The weeds that grow there will be just as healthy as the seeds we plant there and expect to grow in their place.

Or so it seems.

Finding moments of tranquility - at least for me - have helped keep the weeds at bay. Recently, I realised just how often I was casting people, scenarios, outcomes, in a negative light. When I came to this realisation - it was like I had just opened the walls to that garden for the first time in months and de-weeded it.

I guess that’s what this dark Australian winter does.

Over the last 4 or so months, I had lost track of that which was most important to me. The stillness and clarity I had spent so many months (I think I could even say years now) working on had dissipated but not without warning. I started to realise just how overgrown that garden had become.

But deep inside, I knew just how beautiful it could be.

Recently, I started listening to my first (ever) audiobook. Jay Shetty’s “How To Think Like A Monk” (the book responsible for the heavily-paraphrased opening paragraph) reminded me of what was most important.

Taking care of, and listening to, what my mind needs from me.

Stillness and clarity up until a few months ago was the key driver to significant positive thinking and being that I had developed, particularly throughout the pandemic. I felt lucky to be able to come to these realisations and develop powerful and useful habits throughout such a difficult time of global uncertainty.

Now that Jay has reminded me - I’m not going to let go of what I’ve realised and do my utmost to harness the stillness and clarity that drives my search for meaning. The tranquility I’ve sought after has returned.

Now that it has, maybe it’s time to renovate the garden.