Grow the Garden of Thyself

Be gentle with yourself, love yourself, and don’t take your own shit!

In the healing arts, we tend to think of a living being as an ecosystem. We all (even insects, plants, and fungi) have an extensive microbiome within us and outside of us. The majority of that ecosystem is necessary for our health, helps us make vitamins, assists in absorbing water, breaking down food, etc. The ecosystem of ourselves is romanticized as a garden, which is fitting, in a way. When nurtured and tended, the garden will flourish. When neglected, it will wither and die.

Strength can be many things. It can be harsh, brutal, intense. Those energies do not help a garden flourish. It is the gentle strength, the power that does not wane yet does not cripple, constant and nourishing, that yields bounty. Watering the garden with loving kindness will cause it to thrive.

Interestingly, when growing plant medicines, harsh and brutal strengths are more appropriate. Starving them of ideal circumstances urges them to produce the chemicals that make them plant medicines.