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barrie.anson@virgin.net
wrote...
Do you wish to be listed
anonymously? No
Which area is your meta4
useful in? It could
be used against depression, for general encouragement
or healing, confidence boosting, etc.
Which country are you in?
England
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The other day a friend of
mine, who is a gardener, was telling me a story that
he thought summed up the difficulties of life and
the need to keep on keeping on whatever happened.
He asked me if I had ever thought
of a seed deep in the dark earth that begins to germinate
at a certain moment in time when the conditions are
right. There is blackness all around it but there
comes a moment when the earth warms a little and the
soil is sufficiently damp to set its life in motion.
It germinates and the seed having sprung to life has
to push its way upwards through the blackness drawn
by the warmth of sun. There is that magical moment
when it pushes its way to the surface and then the
plant sees the sun and finds that it is not alone.
One moment it is in darkness
and the next it is illuminated by the sun. There are
others like it that have made the journey through
the darkness. The light or the light, of course, is
not the end of the journey. In fact it is just the
beginning. Now the plant's strength has to be tested
against the elements until it grows strong enough
to flower.
The new plant following its
evolutionary path will encounter many trials, tests
and difficulties as it battles with the heat or cold,
drought or floods or strong winds. It is a time of
great confusion.
All plants face similar problems
but in different degrees. Growing is not always comfortable.
The plant may wonder why the gardener does not save
it a lot of effort by protecting it from the elements
and letting it take the easy route? The gardener would
argue that the flowers produced by unnatural growth
can be delicate and prone to wither unlike its counterpart
that has weathered the storms, droughts and cold and
is likely to produce strong, fragrant flowers. He
thinks it best to allow his plants to grow in difficult
conditions so that they can be thoroughly tested,
become stronger and able to weather future storms
gaining their strength from tough conditions.
Thinking of humans he said,
we have to prepare ourselves to go through dark places
as well as sunlit ones. In a human life it may be
easier to go round a pond instead of falling into
it but, if getting a ducking teaches us to swim, it
has its value. Rather than looking upon such events
as obstacles it is better to consider them as opportunities.
Like plants all humans have
different experiences but all have gained strength
by living through them. In human life the great upheavals,
changes and decisions that come in the course of a
human life can be regarded as relatively minor although
we might not think it at the time!
My gardener friend ended his
observation by saying that it was also important for
all humans to find time to smell the roses. He said
most of us try too hard, expending so much energy
thinking and planning butmissing out on the joy of
the moment.
I think he might be right.
Adapted from the book "THE
EIGHTH COLOUR" by Barrie Anson
Thanks Barrie!!
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