Summer Garden Mindfulness

A summer garden is the most natural place to practice mindfulness. The overflowing scents, colors, and beauty help us focus. However, it is easy to be distracted in your own garden noticing all the tasks calling to you. If your garden is like mine in mid-summer it is bursting with edibles, flowers, and fruits. Some are ready to harvest, some need to be weeded, and others need to be cut back or fertilized. And then of course there are the Japanese beetles on the grapes and the endless bindweed vines poking up through the ground. It can be a challenge to simply BE in the garden.

So what’s a busy mind to do?

First – Accept

Accept that the garden is filled with living entities growing, moving, and changing moment by moment. Appreciate the beauty in this living choreography. And unless you have a team of Oompaloompas, it is hard (if not impossible, depending on the size of your garden) to get everything done. From a human perspective, the garden may always be in a state of “not quite done”. Just at the moment you think you have pulled up the last bindweed vine, there is another getting ready to poke its head up out of the ground. And when you think you’ve captured the last beetle, there are more flying towards your yard. Surrender to the messiness. It’s the garden. And it is life as well.

Second – Be present

Be present to the wonder. No matter what needs to be done in the garden, make a commitment to stop and be present to green life moving and unfolding before your eyes. It only takes a few moments. Breathe deeply and let the vibrancy of the garden wash over you. This is also a great practice to do each morning as you first greet your garden or favorite green space.

Third – Embrace

Embrace the tasks. Garden tasks are great vehicles for practicing presence. After all, we are still in the garden. We can continue to breathe deeply and bring our attention to the activity, noticing how it feels and why it might be difficult. And we can appreciate the gift of this place that we co-create with plants and other organisms, an opportunity to help plants grow.

The summer garden can me an overflowing, abundant, and chaotic place. In the midst of all that: