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MY SUNDAY JOURNAL
By Dalton Roberts
IPS Features
9-29-02
A GARDENER'S ATTITUDE
Vita West wrote, "The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that
they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied.
They always look forward to doing better than they have ever done
before."
How true! And what an attitude to transfer over to our regular,
daily-ness.
Each year I try at least one new vegetable in my gardener - usually
several. And the one thought that always comes to me when I am clearing
my gardener is, "I believe I can do a lot better next year."
All kinds of ideas for improvement come to mind.
Gardening generates in me a perpetual excitement. I read Organic
Gardening Magazine every other month and make notes of the best ideas of
other gardeners. I can hardly wait until the next season to try them.
Part of the excitement is being a part of creating life. When a plant
springs up from a seed, we feel like God must have felt when we humans
sprang up. As we walk among our plants, we can't help but experience an
aura of power.
Why not look at every project in our life this way? We have the same
power to impact any project or regular life activity as we have in the
garden. We just don't allow ourselves to fully sense and activate that
power.
Just be a gardener all the time!
LOVED ONES AS MANDALAS
Meditation is nothing but changing your brain waves from beta (spike
waves showing anxiety) to alpha (rolling, pleasant waves). And I can
tell you a quick way to do it.
Any object or icon that evokes positive emotions is referred top as a
mandala. So simply keep a meditation book with pictures of people you
love and enjoy. Why do you think people can spend hours looking at photo
albums?
The sight of some people can create anxiety. I had a sadistic cousin so
I have never put his picture in my mandala book. If the sight of someone
creates anxiety in you, leave him or her out.
Concentrate of those who give you the most "juice." One of my
favorites is my nephew who has severe mental limitations. He is wide
open love. His smile can rocket me straight into an alpha state.
Go through those drawers with disorganized stacks of old pictures and
pick out those that create good feelings in your heart and mine. Just
paste them in pages in a notebook. You may want write out a few love
thoughts to the persons you paste in.
Don't let anyone tell you meditation is some kind of teeth-grinding
ritual and hard to learn. It's as simple as watching birds, or anything
you enjoy, and as close as that drawer full of pictures.
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