Planting the right seeds

In pursuit of a good practice after the longest month ever

I am constantly surprised and reminded of how little control I have over my life sometimes. Days can be so slippery and disconnected and distracted.

I forget that when I set New Year goals. They feel so clear and easy to reach when I’m making them, but somehow it’s only January 29th, and I can feel some of mine fading into the background. But I guess that’s the hard part about setting goals in the first place. Balancing how to love yourself while also trying to change yourself is challenging.

One of my focuses for this year is to ‘think bigger annually but smaller daily.’ I like this one, it helps me feel calm and grounded— like I have time. Because even when it feels impossible to negotiate daily life and make the right choices and keep all the things moving and people you love close, all while reading the worst thing you’ve ever read in the news, it is possible to stay the course by planting the right seeds.

Planting seeds is a way of creating conditions for something to grow. You won’t plant them every day, but so long as you’re paying attention to planting them at all, you’ll be able to tip yourself into doing something beneficial for your future self, similar to the way you can tip yourself into a good mood by saying hello to a dog or listening to a good song or seeing an old friend.

I was reading about someone who blocked time on their calendar to do this kind of work once every month. She called it gardening. 🌱🥹

Imagine dedicated time spent checking in on goals, seeing if any seeds already planted are growing, watering them by researching and reaching out to people who can help them grow, and planting new seeds, with new potential for life.

Imagine making a hot cup of coffee and “going to the garden.” Heaven!

This is a very good practice. It’s not a habit— not yet, that’s too much pressure on the delicate soil. It’s a practice, which is the path that leads us into the gap between aspiration and habit. When you’re in a practice, you worry less about the pressure that comes with doing it one time because you’ve been here before, and you’ll be here again. We can only do the practice and let it shape us.

This is true for the things we all want in life— good health, fulfilling relationships, 1 million dollars, etc. And even though being in America makes it easy for us to think everything can happen overnight, things do take time.

This is especially true for making connections. Most people don’t invest in networking because it doesn’t provide immediate results, even though we all know good relationships, friendships, mentorships, take time to grow— sometimes months, sometimes years. Not saying there aren’t ridiculously amazing things that happen from one reach out, but most of the time the life-changing stuff needs more than one email. It will take many seeds and many trips to the garden.