After a long hot Aussie summer, the ground is often depleted, dry, dusty and lacking nutrients and moisture, ready for a new season to bring the refreshing rain and cooler weather.
Soil is often used as a metaphor for the condition of the human heart (not the organ that beats and pushes blood around our body) but the tender and often fragile part of the person where thoughts, the will and experiences of life are shaped and hidden. It’s the who we really are and where we are shaped.
Our hearts are no different at times from the ground we plant in; the condition of it is directly linked to the quality of fruit it produces.
Just like how after a long, hot summer, soil can become dry, so too can the seasons in our lives leave us feeling dry and depleted on the inside.
Have you ever experienced times like this, when the strain and pressures of a particular season can leave you feeling like it’s never going to end? But rest assured, like the seasons in the natural change, no season lasts forever, be it good or bad.
If you have experienced a season like this, or perhaps you’re in one now, a good practice is to slow down long enough to check the internal state of your heart and mind. Do you find yourself a little hardened through the stresses, lacking patience with those around you, snapping, highly emotional or always rushing and feeling like there isn’t enough in the tank to get you to where you need to be? Often these things can be simple indicators that your heart needs some attention or that you’re coming to the end of one season and ready to move into the next.
One thing I have learnt through trial and error of gardening and life (actually, more errors in the trials, to be honest) is producing good soil takes time.
In the garden, at the end of summer, when things grow quickly and deplete a lot of energy from the soil, the transition from summer to autumn represents a time when everything starts to slow down—a time to prune, remove the weeds and plants that have finished their harvest and allow the ground to rest a little. It’s during this time that the garden needs some attention, hard work and a determination to add the good stuff back to the soil that the summer heat drained. Ultimately the work you do in the slowing season will encourage new life for the following season.
I think most of us prefer the fastest and simplest way with minimal effort on our behalf, yet what we put in is what we get out, little or no effort, little or no results—it’s a life principle but not always an easy one to follow.
If you find yourself exhausted from planting and planting yet nothing or little gained, consider the lesson of nature, the change of season from summer to autumn is a time when things slow down after the intense heat.
Consider limiting exposure to the things that make you feel stressed, things that ultimately do more harm than good. Give yourself permission to slow down, and don’t worry about the things you cannot change. Choose one thing you can do to slow down, focus your attention on that, and see if it makes a difference.
“Change is the only constant in life. Ones ability to adapt to those changes will determine your success in life.” – Benjamin Franklin
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