What happens to a garden when the dirt is plowed to get ready for planting? If the land is left alone, with no additional action being taken, whatever seeds happen to be carried by the wind to the fresh dirt will begin to grow.
The soil does not discriminate. All seeds are treated equally. But you won’t find flowers growing in an untended garden. You’ll only have a lot of weeds. This is because weeds are adept at growing virtually anywhere, under any condition.
Flowers require care, fertilizer, and water. However, wherever you plant a flower, no weed will grow. Ignore the flower, and it will wither, leaving room for a weed.
Thoughts are seeds that germinate in your mind. Just like the dirt in a garden, your mind will accept any seeds of thought. Positive thoughts or negative, your mind supports them all. Positive thoughts are your flowers, whereas negative thoughts are the weeds.
If you ignore your mental garden, negative thoughts will thrive. It’s easy to pick up negative thoughts because your environment is filled with them. Other people are constantly spewing negative opinions about virtually every topic. The news media is filled with tragedy and despair.
Negative thoughts can be displaced by cultivating positive ones. Every good thought you plant displaces a weed. Since you are in control of your mind, you have the ability to select and plant positive thoughts.
Why is it so important to tend to your mental garden? Because your thoughts control what you do and how you feel. Negative thoughts make you feel bad, impact your health, cause you to give up, and derail you from achieving your goals.
Positive thoughts enable you to overcome obstacles, achieve your goals, feel good, improve your health, develop a pleasant personality, stay on track, and persevere. It’s well worth your effort to cultivate a positive mental garden.
Sandra rarely felt enthusiastic about much. Her workweek dragged. Friday took forever to arrive. Each weekend whizzed by in the blink of an eye. Sandra always found the downside of any issue. She felt trapped in her routine. Sandra’s goal was to work long enough to be able to retire. Then she would be able to enjoy life.
Her thoughts were mostly negative. When a friend pointed this out to her, Sandra responded that she would have better thoughts if her circumstances were better. What were some of the causes for Sandra’s predicament?
Sandra listened to the opinions of her friends. She didn’t want to be ridiculed. Sandra’s friends talked about what was wrong with their lives as well as in the world. Sandra wanted to change jobs, but her friends told her it was a stupid idea because the economy was so unpredictable. So Sandra stayed in the job she didn’t care for.
Sandra watched the evening news each night. She read the paper at lunch. Sandra allowed negative seeds to saturate her mind.
It’s no surprise Sandra felt the way she did. At any time, she can pull the weeds out of her mental garden and replace them with flowers. She has to alter the information she takes in. Sandra needs to seek out examples of success, inspiration, and accomplishment.
Sandra’s objective should be to fill her mind with positive thoughts that make her feel good. She has to get rid of concepts such as it won’t work, I can’t do it, what will people think, and I’m too old. They need to be replaced with I can, I will, today is a great day to start, and it doesn’t matter what others say, think, or do.
Fill your mental garden with the flowers of positive thoughts. As your garden flourishes, you will become happier and more satisfied.
NOW AVAILABLE: “Dare to Live Without Limits,” the book. Visit www.BryanGolden.com or your bookstore. Bryan is a management consultant, motivational speaker, author, and adjunct professor. E-mail Bryan at bryan@columnist.com or write him c/o this paper.