Vibrant (vs. Depleted) Livin' - SeedsOfExchange.org

This week’s Place of Pause (PoP) is about new stories AND how a day in my garden profoundly spoke to me about the hazards of living life depleted.

Take a breath and a beat to BE with me in this garden tale and PoP.

On Saturday, eager to get some spring greens and herbs in the soil, I headed to our neighborhood nursery. I was curious to discover why, in the last couple of years, our garden has not produced strong, healthy, and thriving plants. One of the plant nursery folks recommended that I test the soil in our garden. So, I added a soil testing kit to my cart that was bursting with fresh and living things and headed home.

Once I got home, I hesitated. The soil test step seemed arduous and complicated. There was a moment when I thought, “Ugh, I don’t really want to do this. I just want to get to planting.” I looked at the plants with a longing to begin planting – one of my favorite things to do – and contemplated tossing into the soil some all-purpose garden amendments and fertilizer instead.

(I’m so glad I didn’t hit the shortcut button, for there was a profound gift waiting for me in the dirt!)

I pulled out the vials and test tubes – feeling a bit like a scientist as I did so! – and performed the soil test.

All four sections of the soil I tested were completely depleted of nutrients, utterly lifeless and unable to fuel and sustain life.

I then got my hands in the dirt, where I found that even more was going on underground. Digging deeply into the soil, I discovered rock-hard chunks of clay and hardened roots from previous plants and seasons of growth. I tossed them out, combing my fingers through the softened soil, and added to the soil the nutrients my garden center friends recommended.

Then, what seemed like magic, happened. The soil transformed right before my eyes and became soft, dark and rich, and simply smelled alive. Not only was nestling the plants into this soil a joy, but it felt like sacred work in the soil of my garden – and my life – as I meditated and prayed my way through this ordinary task of gardening in my backyard this weekend.

So my friend, might you take a pause and consider a few soulFULL queries about the garden of your life? What do you sense is the state of the soil in which your life is planted and growing? Do you feel depleted and in need of fuel to sustain your day to day life? Where are there rock-hard places, which create difficult conditions for life to flourish? What do you want to grow in your life’s garden?

Allow your unique story to be fueled from deep within you. Be open to whatever gifts await you today. Carry whatever has come to you with you into this PoP.

A PoP on New Stories

Today’s focus is on the power to live today offering your gifts – yourself – to the world. To welcome a new story, a fresh way of seeing yourself and the world, right here and now. In this excerpt from my Ablaze books, we’ll learn from an amazing community of surfers. (Check out the documentary film, “Resurface”, and the organization, Operation Surf. Get ready to BE enCOURAGED and inspired!)

Let’s first take a moment to BE STILL. Tend to your story today. Cultivate peace and calm amidst whatever is difficult for you, in the lives of those near and dear to you, and in distant places and lands.

Breathe in as deeply as you can. Again.
Puff out your chest.
Exhale till every drop of air is gone.
Draw your chin softly toward your heart.
Soften your jaw, your brow.
Bask.
Rest.
BE.

There are times, seasons, and days when each one of us needs a new story, with changed habits, memories, and patterns of thought and action.

BE courageously honest about where you are what struggles or storms exist in your life. This truth-telling has the potential to illuminate your next steps and leaps. Bit by bit, your gaze and your path will become clearer, sharper, and more powerful than ever.

Out of struggle and heartbreak,
may your roots grow deep
– strengthened by love –
and cultivate green, growing things,
bringing healing to you … and to others.

A nudge. As if on a treasure hunt, connect one dot in your life between what you love or an area of expertise you have and a need in the world. Send one email, make one phone call, do one thing that will fuel this curiosity. Consider and BE inspired by the dots connected in the collaboration between surfers and veterans in this story (a 5-minute read) from Live Ablaze and the corresponding PoP from Soulfully Ablaze.

For a full-guided Place of Pause (PoP), check out the video below about today’s PoP, or the complete video series (both are free) of 10-minute PoPs.

Given the state of our world – the Corona virus pandemic, school and work closures, challenges to global markets and personal paychecks – we must take a few moments to BE still and to pause. These days, more than ever, there has been much clamoring for our attention 24-7 with LOUD, FEAR-based, PANIC-inducing messages – but let’s practice peace, together, amidst these stormy days. I share these PoPs so you can FILL UP with peace and navigate this wild and crazy season with strength and courage.

While we’re talkin’ about gardens …

Thought you’d enJOY seeing how these seeds are made into some creative masterpieces. SHOP & LEARN more about the Threads Worldwide-Seeds Partnership and how we are working, together, to make difference-making more simple and powerful than ever!

These eight pictures will take you on a virtual journey with some extraordinary sistah-artisans in Ecuador!

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Get a head start on Mother’s Day shopping, birthdays, and fun spring gifts for those you love (you, too!) … and make a mighty difference in the lives of women ’round the world!