Mind Weeding

Resistance into Flow

There are many times in our life that we have the thought of something we want to do, from washing the dog to getting a new job, from eating more consciously to meditating in the mornings. Taking our desires and dreams and making them into tangible realities means we need to move from thinking into acting.

The thinking part may set the stage for planting the seed, but the growth comes from watering and nourishing and tending our seeds of intent over time.

If you don’t tend to your inner or outer gardens what often grows is a plethora of weeds that crowd out what you’ve planted. Those weeds are the untamed thoughts, distractions, fears, and places of struggle within you. Or sometimes lack of attention to your dreams and goals leads to no growth at all.

The solution? Embrace the weeds or tell yourself the truth when things aren’t flourishing. When you turn around and discover that an area you planted long ago is wild with unintended growth or is barren, smile. Take a breath in this moment and time. Judging, deflecting, or moaning about the past will not clear the field.

Go back and clarify what your original intent was when you planted the seed, and what your actions have been since then. What do you need to shift or realign?

Each season I plant three seeds of intent. This spring my focus is on:

1. writing flow and ease
2. daily exercise and mindfulness practice
3. resting and integrating

I am finding flow again, which is about staying steady as I move through resistance. I feel like a seed cracking out of its shell and pushing through soil.

Here is the thing: resistance does not mean something is wrong. Truthfully: when you plant a strong seed of intent, that seed will wait for the right conditions to grow. Sometimes the right conditions happen by grace; space and motivation suddenly arrive like the sunshine following a rainy day. That is what we hope for.

However…

And sometimes we are invited to cultivate the right conditions through our actions.

So last week I set out to seriously craft the conditions that would help me get back into a writing flow.

I cleaned and did laundry, neatened my writing area, put on a YouTube video of a coffee shop to support energy movement, and set my chicken timer to keep my butt in the seat.

Then I sat down and stayed steady through the resistance until I found my way back into the flow.

What supportive conditions can you cultivate in your life today to help you step back towards fostering a forgotten or buried intent? I’d love to hear!

There is always space and time to return to an intent, no matter how neglected or forgotten.

As Rumi says:

Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving — it doesn’t matter,
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times,
Come, come again, come.

With love,

ash