Reach out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in

 

Hibiscus photos sent by my father, from their garden

Many years ago, someone invited me to join sessions organized by what sounded like a cult. They said " having spirituality in one's life is so important". Which I completely agreed with. I replied, without even thinking, that I am spiritual, but my connection to the universe is through nature. It wasn't a prepared answer, it came out of me, just like that. It only struck me much later where that originated from. 

We are all gardeners in the family. I am so grateful to my parents for instilling a love of gardening in us. Not that they EVER spoke to us about it. 😁 My brother and I just grew up watching them dig, plant, weed, fight against poor soil, harsh summers, in the garden, every single day, despite the busy lives they had. We learnt the immense pleasure of receiving something after putting in effort and love. And the humility to accept graciously, when sometimes we did not. 

Gardening is one shared interest we have between the 4 of us, otherwise very different people. 😀 And so we also started having our own garden patches, as children. My brother grew cactii, a whole amazing collection of them. I grew trees (because trees were my refuge, I used to climb up and hide, my parents couldn't reach me there 😂), carrying one of my kittens with me every morning to go check if there was some sign of a tiny head unfurling, from the seed I had planted. We are lucky that my sister-in-law shares our love of growing things, the planting and the waiting, and the amazing reward of each new leaf or flower.  

With age, I grew to see how gardening is a metaphor for life. It is now more philosophy, a reminder of the flow of life itself, than just the planting, the fertilizing, the joy of new flowers, and the attempts to kill mealy bugs. 😁The earth, and nature, reflect to us so many truths that govern our lives, cycles that mimic our journey. 

We dig to make space for yet another plant - and learn how to live better, and become more humble. As T.S Eliot said, "the only wisdom, the wisdom of humility".

"Dheere Dheere Re Mana, Dheere Sub Kutch Hoye
Mali Seenche So Ghara, Ritu Aaye Phal Hoye."

Slowly slowly O mind, everything happens in its own pace
The gardener may pour a hundred buckets,
the fruit arrives only in its season.

Kabir 1398-1518

And therefore I can completely relate to this beautiful beautiful poem 😍: 

While there is still time: Reach out, keep reaching out 

Grahanam

 

The opposite of daanam (giving) is grahanam. Receiving. A dear friend told me about this recently, when I visited her. It jolted me. 

Receiving, and gracefully, is as important as its opposite. It completes the circle. For someone for whom giving is just a way of life, a reflex action, not even requiring thought or reflection, receiving has always been hard. It had to be learnt. 

Because for that one must truly believe one is worthy of love, despite all evidence to the contrary. Hold the hand offered to lift you up, with gratitude, even if you can climb up yourself. Accept the gift of shelter, without apology. Pick up the phone and say, this time, yes, I would like someone to come with me to the hospital. 

And know that the circle is completing. Everything you gave away is coming back. And you must not stem that flow. You must allow the universe to restore balance. You must bow down and open your hands.

“… because who can look in the mirror for three minutes
and say I love you, I love you, I love you

without bursting into tears over all the ways
we have not loved ourselves.”

Jennifer Saunders

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Because for that one must tear down the walls, brick by brick. 

Lie down, let go, and notice how the earth is supporting you always, as my dear yoga teacher tells me, again and again. Break, so the light will come in through the cracks. Look at the beautifully adorned stone gods in the temple and say, “Here it is, my life, let your will prevail”. Add “Insha Allah” to everything you claim to do, every plan you make, so meticulously, nothing left to chance.

“Be Ground.
Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are. 

You have been stony for too many years
Try something different. 

Surrender.”

Jelaluddin Rumi

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Because for that one must encounter the opposite, the other side, have the things you believed in turned on their heads. To see that the reverse is just the other half of the story you could never see, the knowledge that you had to grow humble enough to receive. To know that age comes to you with gifts like nothing you ever imagined, if you are not busy trying to hold on to youth.

"…And most importantly let them believe in themselves

Let them be helpless like children.
Because weakness is a great thing
And strength is nothing.
When a man is just born,
He is weak and flexible
When he dies, he is hard and insensitive.
When a tree is growing,
It is tender and pliant
But when it is dry and hard, it dies.

Hardness and strength are death's companions.
Pliancy and weakness are expressions of the freshness of being
Because what has hardened will never win…"

The Stalker's prayer at the well, before he takes the two men into the Zone.

from the film 'The Stalker'
Andrei Tarkovsky