5 Life-Changing Lessons You Can Learn From Gardening
How I applied these lessons to transform my life
Four years back, I ventured into gardening for a few months. My intention was straightforward — learn how to grow seasonal vegetables.
But gardening became an excellent teacher. Little did I know that this small step would mean a life-changing experience for me.
Through this story, I share the enlightening lessons this excellent guide taught me. And how you can apply the same in your life.
Nurture Your Hidden Potential
My first enlightening moment struck when I saw the seeds.
Have you ever held the seeds in your hands? Don’t they seem tiny and lifeless?
The first time I saw them, I couldn’t believe they can transform into something so beautiful, colorful, and lively. It is a miracle.
Seeds have hidden potential, and when nurtured, they transform into beautiful plants and trees.
Seeing the plants grow in front of the eyes was a very joyful experience.
Gardening deepened my understanding that unrealized capability exists in every one of us. We are the seeds and we have to flower.
How to discover and nurture your potential
To discover your potential, you need to spend quality time with yourself. There are various ways to achieve this.
- Meditate: Meditation connects you with True Self. As you delve deeper into your being, you discover the amazing talents within. If you find meditating alone tough, join a meditation group.
- Connect with the inner child: A baby is born with intrinsic happiness. A child’s paintings, singing, laughing, and dancing are expressions of that inner happiness. Remember your childhood and get involved with activities you find joyful. Follow that long-lost hobby.
- Solo trips: Solo trips open you up. You connect with nature, and yourself. You connect with new people who can provide you with new insights about you! Plan that trip to spend time in your company!
Commit yourself to grow into a better human, and take a resolve to nurture the newfound potentials.
How my life transformed
I started answering questions of spiritual seekers on various forums. To date, I have written over 750 answers and posts for spiritual seekers on Quora.
I further got back in touch with singing, something I enjoy. Today, I have many songs on Starmakerstudios. You can hear one of my favorites by clicking here.
Recommended Read:
Live In Gratitude
In this journey of growing vegetables, the next transformation happened during harvesting. I felt thankful for the beautiful organic vegetables and fruits that the beautiful plants provided me.
Have you ever plucked a vegetable from a plant? Did you realize that the plant is giving you a part of itself?
Harvesting vs. buying is a unique experience.
Vegetables are readily available commodities in the market. We hardly give a thought to the fact that for us to live, someone dies. During harvesting, you can feel compassion towards the one who is giving away life for you.
Some lives die for you to live!
I am now more grateful for the food I eat than ever before. There are so many things we take for granted because they are available in plenty.
When was the last time you thanked for the clothes you wear, the bread you eat, and the flowers you see, smell, or touch?
How to live in gratitude
Living in gratitude starts with being thankful for the simplest of things.
- Maintain a Gratitude Journal: Start your mornings with thanks. Before sleep, be thankful for all positive things in the day. Every situation in life has a positive, and the Journal helps you see that possibility.
- Celebrate life: Celebrate Life by engaging in festivals and events. Let celebration become a part and parcel of your normal routine. The celebration triggers spontaneous gratitude.
- Cultivate kindness: Be kind towards fellow humans and animals. Next time your heart wants to give or donate, support the heart. See how people respond to compassion. Let that feeling of love sink in. Giving is a great joy.
Gratitude is a real-life changer and brings immense satisfaction in life. Irrespective of how much money or fame one has — life is incomplete without gratitude.
How my life transformed
I started maintaining a Gratitude Journal. I update it every single day, thanking for the simplest of things in life.
As I delved deeper into thankfulness, I felt my heart opening more and more. Today, I am thankful for everything — even the events that look unfavorable. There is immense peace in life.
Recommended Read:
Nourish Sensitivity
Nurturing and caring for plants through the whole exercise brought me closer to them. It made me more sensitive towards life.
Have you ever touched petals of a flower? They are very delicate.
One who is gentle towards plants can show sensitivity towards anyone. Love and care are a part and parcel of nourishing life in the garden.
Further, I started giving attention to the food I eat. I now dedicate time to eating food in silence at least once a day — no TV, no movies, no music, no meetings.
It has heightened my sense of taste. Eating and drinking are much more satisfying.
Life becomes beautiful with heightened senses and a heart that can feel for others.
Sensitivity has also spread to other parts of my life. I can listen, see, and smell better. I enjoy life through higher sense perception.
How to inculcate sensitivity in your life
Sensitivity requires three aspects — Understanding, focus, and experience.
- Empathize with others: Try comprehending peoples’ life and difficulties. Practice kindness and forgiveness to cultivate heart. Out of this kindness, empathy grows. Empathy is the epitome of sensitivity.
- Enhance the senses: Focus on one activity at a time. When eating, just eat — let only taste exist at the moment. When listening to music — only listen. Focus on the sense that is engaged.
- Open up to experiences: Don’t fear life. Love, live, laugh, cry, join positive groups — dare to get rejected. Vulnerability is true strength. It enriches life with experiences.
Through enhanced sensitivity, you can connect with others at a much deeper level. You can feel their lives.
Further, enhanced senses allow you to enjoy the pleasures of life.
How my life transformed
I started empathizing with people. Now, I help those who are going through very tough phases (such as a wounded heart) in life.
Further, I started focusing on one act at a time. Focus allows me to enjoy and live life fully.
Enhanced senses support Self-Awareness.
Recommended Read:
Cultivate Patience
While caring for plants, I needed immense patience to see them grow and bear fruits.
Have you ever waited for that exclusive gadget or purse you purchased on Amazon? Doesn’t the wait kill you?
Also, I had to put significant effort to protect the gentle shoot from insects and weeds. Weeds grew by themselves. But it required effort in the right direction to grow flowers and fruits.
And even after all the care, not all plants survived. Still, I did my best and kept patience.
Nurturing teaches motherhood.
The human mind is a fertile ground where resentment, anger, greed, jealousy, and other feelings arise spontaneously. But you need a conscious effort to cultivate kindness and other beautiful qualities.
You nurture yourself with positivity so that the elixir of life can flow through your heart.
How to cultivate patience
The key consideration is to understand that the results are not in your hands. Give your 100% effort to achieve the desired result. Once you do your part, wait patiently. Impatience breeds fear of failure.
- Just wait: Whenever you get impatient, take a deep breath and relax. Let Patience be the mantra in whatever you do. For example, next time you get restless to get that popcorn out of the microwave, just wait.
- Breathing exercises: Dedicate 10–15 minutes every day to deep breathing exercises. Further, focus on the breath while doing any activity.
- Add awareness to daily life: Nowadays, life is fast-paced. Slowing down and doing daily tasks consciously cultivates patience. Dedicate 1 hour a day to act slowly, with awareness. For example — Do any activities such as drinking, washing hands, strolling at a slow pace.
Patience is the Ultimate Lesson in Life. Everything gets done in time.
Gardening is one of the best teachers that helps to imbibe patience in life.
How my life transformed
I stopped fearing negative results. The newfound clarity allowed me to put 100% effort without worrying about the future. If there was a failure, I would learn and move ahead.
Further, I learned patience. I let the Universe work its course, which reflects in every work I do. I am following the same regimen for writing and enjoying the journey.
Also, I became more aware so as not to act on any negativity that arises within.
Recommended Reads:
- Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective by Dalai Lama
- Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living by Allan Lokos
Embrace Interdependence and Flow with Life
Plants depend on nature for water, sunlight, organic fertilizer, and so on. Once adults, they give back to the ecosystem.
They consume as much as they need, and once developed, they go on giving. What a beautiful example of interdependence!
Interdependence is the law of nature.
Further, plants are in an absolute state of surrender. They go on adapting and adjusting with nature.
I learned interdependence and flowing with life from plants. Once you learn to flow, the vagaries of life seem to disturb less — bliss flowers in life.
The present moment is the womb from where future is born.
Through plants, I learned to accept the insecurities of life. Every moment, life can spring a surprise. That is the way life is, and I accept it.
How to embrace interdependence and learn to flow with life
Interdependence is everywhere around you. Trees give oxygen to animals, and animals give carbon dioxide. Bees help in the pollination and they take their food from flowers and so on.
Flowing with life is the ultimate lesson gardening gives. At its own pace, nature gets everything done!
- Observe nature and self: You can observe life in two directions — Outside and Inside. Look around and observe. You will find interdependence everywhere. Everything you use is a gift of someone else. Look within. Are you restless or peaceful? Your life is the best book that you can contemplate upon. Don’t let that book go to waste. Use the lessons from your life to improve your present.
- Embrace the present moment: When life doesn’t happen your way, you suffer. Let the control go. Let your mantra be — Do the best and forget the rest. What you do today will define your tomorrow. Give it your best — this is all you can do. Leave the results to life.
- Respond, don’t react: You cannot control the situations outside, but within, you can control everything. Learning to respond is a plausible outcome of learning to observe. The simplest way to respond to situations is to pause before action. Stop and ask yourself “Am I responding or reacting”. Make a conscious choice.
Interdependence is a key tenet of life. If you are taking, you also have to give back. This is how life works.
Learning to flow with life is the pinnacle of wisdom.
If you can learn how to flow without resisting, Self-Realization is not far away.
How my life transformed:
I started giving back to society, a practice that I continue today also. Helping seekers on various platforms and in-person brings me great joy. Also, I donate a certain amount every year towards a specific chosen purpose.
This year I donated for laborers who got affected because of COVID. Also, I extended monetary help to a spiritual organization that guides seekers.
I started practicing acceptance. My meditation practice became much more in-depth and fulfilling. Today, I flow with life, witnessing everything without judgment.
Acceptance is easy!
Recommended Reads:
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
- Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence by Gregory Cajete
A Quick Recap
Life itself is the greatest Guru. If you are open to learning, every moment is a teacher. Every moment has a treasure that can transform your life towards the greater good.
If you are ready to nurture, one plant can teach you the entire life.
Lesson 1: Nurture your hidden potential
To discover and nurture the hidden potential, connect with the self at a deeper level.
- Meditate
- Connect with the inner child
- Solo trips
Lesson 2: Live in Gratitude
Peace is a natural outcome of Gratitude. To live in gratitude, nurture spontaneous thankfulness from within.
- Maintain a Gratitude Journal
- Celebrate life
- Cultivate kindness
Lesson 3: Nourish Sensitivity
To nourish sensitivity, cultivate empathy. Enhanced sense perception and a loving heart play are the pillars of a sensitive human.
- Empathize with others
- Enhance the senses
- Open up to experiences
Lesson 4: Cultivate Patience
Patience leads to a life free from fears and insecurities. To cultivate patience in life, learn the art of slowing down.
- Just wait
- Breathing exercises
- Add awareness to daily life
Lesson 5: Embrace interdependence and learn to flow with life
We have to learn to give back to the Universe.
Learning to flow with life leads to higher self-awareness. Life is always flowing in the present moment. Embracing this flow leads to a blissful life.
- Observe life and self
- Embrace the present moment
- Respond, don’t react
Garden is the silent guide that teaches unconditional self-love.
I suggest you try your hands at nurturing a garden (or even a single plant).
Feel the beauty that sprouts — inside and outside.
And don’t forget to share your learning with us!
PS: If you enjoyed reading the above story, you might as well enjoy the below.
