Compass – Watering the Garden of You

Spring is a season of planting and blossoming. What you tend to in your garden in the early months of spring, will grow and be harvested throughout the year. This month we use this metaphor as a way to guide you in your personal growth and development as we shed the layers of winter and open up to the warmth of spring. We offer a quote from Peace Activist, Thich Nhat Hanh, as an explanation of how to grow into the person you would like to become:

“Your mind is like a piece of land planted with many different kinds of seeds: seeds of joy, peace, mindfulness, understanding, and love; seeds of craving, anger, fear, hate, and forgetfulness. These wholesome and unwholesome seeds are always there, sleeping in the soil of your mind. The quality of your life depends on the seeds you water. If you plant tomato seeds in your gardens, tomatoes will grow. Just so, if you water a seed of peace in your mind, peace will grow. When the seeds of happiness in you are watered, you will become happy. When the seed of anger in you is watered, you will become angry. The seeds that are watered frequently are those that will grow strong.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh in Anh-Huong & Hanh (2006, p.22)

Just remember, the more you focus on the parts of yourself that you love, the more these aspects of yourself will grow. The same is true for the parts of yourself that you don’t care for, so be sure you are only expressing and allowing the parts of yourself that you want to grow bigger.

Allyson Cole, Psy.D

Dr. Cole is Licensed Psychologist and the Co-Founder and Executive Guide for Family Guiding. She has worked with individuals and families who struggle with emotional and behavioral problems for the past ten years in a residential treatment center, hospital, outpatient clinic, and at a detention center. She is passionate about working in collaboration with the community members of Brooklyn, NY to provide opportunities for adolescent girls in the juvenile justice system. As the founder and Executive Director of the Create A Path program, Dr. Cole has developed an evidenced-based program model that addresses all of the relevant recommendations made by the Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice and by the Vera Institute of Justice.

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Tags: self-growth, Spring

Category: Compass