Lessons I Learned From My Plants
I woke up on January 1st, 2023 planning on working out, journaling, and reflecting on 2022; what I loved, what I would change, and what I learned. But what happened was the same thing that often happens: I got “busy doing".
However, as I was “busy” pruning my plants (for propagation and repotting), it occurred to me that what I was doing for my plants was exactly what I wanted to do for myself in 2023…
I was allowing a living thing an opportunity to become stronger, deeper, and more beautiful and expansive.
Lessons I learned from my plants:
1. Move out of your comfort zone so you have space to grow.
When a plant grows, you need to move it to a bigger pot or you risk the plant will become root bound. The roots will literally start to wrap around each other, not allowing space for sustenance, significantly limiting the plant's ability to thrive. It's important to expand its home, its capacity to breathe and flourish, placing it in conditions that are favorable for growth. For the plant to thrive, it needs to leave what was once comfortable and safe, and move into a more expansive environment. If it stays where it no longer "fits," it literally cuts itself off from life and its greatest purpose and potential. It may take time to acclimate to its new soil, but when it does, its beauty becomes expansive. Its impact becomes profound.
2. Let go of what drains your energy.
When keeping a plant healthy, you need to trim off the old, dead stuff. Why? Because the "old" stuff will take energy from what is trying to grow and bloom. When we prune what is no longer thriving, we allow the light and water (sustenance and care) to move into the healthy parts of the plant. That way it not only looks healthier on the outside, but is growing stronger on the inside.
3. Your expansion is limitless.
When we take sections of a healthy plant, trim them off, and place them in water and sunlight, they become new plants. When we propagate a trimming, placing it in all the right conditions, its beauty expands. With a little care, new life begins, with new opportunities for growth and expansion.
My new year proclamation:
In 2023, I'm ready to bloom! It's time to trim away all that is not working in favor of my growth. I’m letting go of worries and anxieties and the ways I keep myself root bound. I’m letting go of so much "doing".
I will consciously plant myself where the conditions are optimal, the sun is bright and I am supported by all that promotes my learning and growth. And if conditions become less than optimal, I will remember that I am strong; because beneath the surface, my roots are planted in rich soil.