This Too Is Garden

This Too Is Garden

There are beautiful wildflowers
That were once weeds in my garden.
Delicate fairy fronds of Yarrow
With its white, flat flower of multiple parts
Now thrives intentionally,
An honored resident of my garden.

Its healing essence
Enriches me,
Protects me
Against unseen microbial threats
Before they are felt in my being.

And once,
I would have mercilessly removed
This wildflower from my garden
Of consciousness.

It’s possible
That there are wildflower people
In the garden
Of my consciousness,
Whose presence serve to
Enrich and protect
My awareness of the
complexity,
The interdependence of living things
In the garden of life.

On this Earth Day,
Let me accept the wild things
The unexpected wildflowers
The unexpected treasures
Yet unrecognized
In this thing called Life.
- C. Scribner ©4/23/20

The tendency is to expect that my own happiness can result only when all that I want is fulfilled. Or at least the next thing to which I aspire. The next project. The next social contact. The next outfit. The reality is that happiness is a state of being, a calmness that derives from a place that is apart from any of these things. Residing often in this place, this wellspring of equanimity, beings comfort and rest during a time of upheaval the like of which the world has never before seen.

In this garden of life, interdependence is key. Each microbe, each insect, each particle of light and of water serve the needs of the community. In like manner, each element of living of which I partake serves to provide nourishment to the garden of my mind. Do I obsess over the news? That pours salt water on the garden. Do I revel in the essence of music? That’s nourishment for the soul. I want to be aware of what I allow in my garden.

And yet there are weeds, or wildflowers, that benefit the whole. Being in a place of detached acceptance, viewing the world through the ens of the inner self, provides a sense of equanimity, of blessing, that can be applied to my interactions throughout the day.

Meditation, prayer, writing, making music, speaking words of wisdom, listening to the sounds of nature, all give life, while it exists here and now, an opportunity to grow my own garden of consciousness within a garden that clearly needs tending, with attention to the things that nurture growth, recognize the wildflowers, and yields healing herbs for people of the world. How we need it now.

Are there herbs that can recreate the balance of wild and nurtured things in the world so that this -not alive- virus can be put back to sleep? If it’s not alive, it can’t be killed. We need to tend our gardens so well that this invader, like harmful insects, can be sent back into hiding, with the many others that await an opportunity to proliferate in an adulterated world garden.

There is no part of this living planet that doesn’t also affect every other part.