The Coaching Gardener: Are you working with the flow or against THE FORCE?
I’m not a fan of January. She’s a cruel month snatching us from our debauched December hiatus into the damp reality of resolutions, gym memberships and diets. Friends are having a dry month. It’s far too much pressure. Be honest who set a NY goal to go to the gym five times a week even though you didn’t manage five times in total last year. And how are you getting along with that?
I’ve taken a ‘slowly, slowly catchy monkey’ approach to my 2016 goals.
I find putting myself under pressure brings feelings of struggle and hardship and actually that doesn’t achieve what I wanted in the first place. All I get is effort and disappointment and typically the opposing force triumphs.
I don’t even like January for gardening. If you haven’t noticed, it’s been a bit wet. Mother Nature isn’t having a dry month; she’s well and truly off the wagon.
It’s best I stay out of the garden for now. Why work against a force telling me to stay indoors, keep dry and out of the mud? My efforts will not be rewarded in a satisfying enough result.
I promise this isn’t an excuse for me remain on the couch eating leftover Quality Street. It’s about deciding where your motivation is and building the momentum. I’m doing things I have no time for when the sun is shining, updating my website for example. It feels like I’m working with nature rather than against her.
Back in the garden; if you think the rain battered gardens of the UK have already given up then you are wrong. Mother nature is actually busy on our behalf and under the earth things are happening. Spring takes cautious steps closer towards her big reveal.
Please don’t let January be the month when you start and give up on a resolution. Instead check out where your energy is really located, and where it wants to go. As Yoda would say, ‘work with the flow not against the force’. Baby steps. You’ll be ready for your close-up in no time.
Keep it green, Andrew Morris