Blooming Bliss

Self love truths- Guest prompts Vicky Prokopi

“In life eventually we learn to plant our gardens instead of waiting for others to bring us flowers. How are you preparing and taking care of your own garden?”

The nasturtium seeds my sister gave to me a few years ago, I lovingly buried in the soil. Nasturtiums overflowing in the garden now.

The perennial spinach seedlings I brought home from the nursery with my mum have grown, gone to seed, and are now re-sprouting in the garden.

Both will be growing for years to come because of those simple actions.

A garden is full of so much wonder and beauty. A big part of being a good gardener I believe is having faith in nature. Observing how it lovingly cycles through change and transformation- this is a never-ending source of inspiration for me.

This wonderful prompt by Vicky Prokopi got me thinking about how I am preparing and taking care of my own garden.

Learning to plant my own garden instead of waiting for others to bring me flowers has been an ongoing lesson I’ve needed to learn.

I will no longer view other people, situations, or outcomes as my saviours. I no longer utter the words “When this happens, I’ll be happy.”

I am happy now, because I decide to be.

Because I have learned. I have learned that all the people in the world can bring us flowers. But our garden will still be missing that special something if we don’t tend and plant them ourselves.

Caring for yourself is one of the most important life lessons there is to learn.

The idea that others need to provide us something and it ‘should’ come from someone or something outside of us, is not useful. Inside of us there is a garden yearning to receive some attention and affection from us.

We are sold the idea that the solutions to our problems lie outside of ourselves. So we spend our time searching. Time passes, we may even get our wishes and we wonder why we feel unfulfilled or lacking.

There is a hole no one can fill. But we can for ourselves.

“Life is really simple; we ourselves create the circumstances that complicate it.” ― Oscar Auliq-Ice

So how am I preparing and taking care of my garden?

I am listening to myself. Listening to my body. Nourishing my soul and nurturing my creativity. Taking the time I need to heal.

Dissolving self-judgments, fear, and shame. Freeing my mind from patterns of my past. Shifting my focus to me instead of avoiding my needs and focusing on everything outside of me.

Trusting that this is what I need to do after many years of waiting for others to bring me flowers.

I am empowering myself in the process. Realizing how much love there is in the world for everyone. Tuning into myself every day reminds me it is my job to prepare and plant my own garden.

My responsibility, my job.

It is also my job to enjoy it. To laugh freely, play without rules, and become the version of me I always wanted to be.

I also allow myself to enjoy my own divinity outside of the barriers and defined standards in society. Taking care of my garden means I allow myself to appreciate my unconventional beauty whenever I like.

When everything becomes a choice and we learn to love ourselves- It becomes essential.

Our priority becomes ourselves, and this actually allows us to give more of ourselves to those around us. But it starts with planting our own garden first.

In time the flowers bloom.

Thank you Vicky Prokopi for this beautiful prompt and reminder 💖. Thanks to Diana C. too for being such a bright inspiration and creating the fabulous guest prompts to participate in 💖.