Tag: life

Growing with nature

Gardening. It’s a weird concept. Though I don’t do it anymore, I have I have in the past. And that’s why it surprised me when a friend compared life with gardening.

It got me thinking and I realised that in each of its steps, gardening teaches us a valuable life lesson.

Step one: Get down and get dirty.

When we divulge in the dirt, turning up the soil, both our body and our mind connect with the earth. It teaches us to stay grounded, to remember we are only a tiny speck in a greater evolution, and that we came from the earth to which we will return as well.

Step two: Sow the seed, watch it grow

Gardening is about planting a seed, watering it every day, nurturing it, pruning it, and waiting for it to sprout. Life is the same.

To cultivate a thought, a philosophy, we should first let it seep into our soul and take over our body. We should nourish it with encouragement and positive thoughts for it to evolve into greatness.

It’s inspiring to observe a plant grow from a shrub to a branch to a strong benefactor. It makes us realise that we too will grow stronger with time. We’ll face challenges like weeds and pests and our own self-doubt. Despite the challenges, the many painful twists and turns, we will emerge stronger.

Step three: Clean up, prune away

With every plant comes along unnecessary weeds. For a tree to grow without hindrance, to achieve its potential, we should prune away those weeds and make space for new sprouts to appear. Likewise, in life, uncertainty and negativity will surround us, but just as we prune the plants, we should learn to chip out the evils that hamper our progress.

When we eliminate the obstacles, we’ll create room for positive people and good vibes to occupy our soul. Like spring-cleaning our lives.

Step four: Re-plant, re-live

Regardless of how much we fail at times. Some seeds don’t grow, no matter how much we want them to. Maybe the soil isn’t right.

We learn. We try again. We become better gardeners.

Sometimes in life our efforts aren’t fruitful either. We whine—and it’s understandable—but we shouldn’t give up. We should try again, because that’s how we grow.

Gardening teaches us to persevere in our goals. Every strife during the journey is only a lesson that makes the destination all the more worthwhile.

Good things don’t happen overnight. No seed flowers in a day or night. Just as gardening is a long and arduous process of growth, so is our life. The purpose, thus, is to enjoy the journey.

Thanks for the muse, Kumud and #SpiritChat.

Your time is gonna come

“Damn!” Charley swore.

“What happened?” Though he knew, Marvin asked nevertheless.

“Missed,” Charley replied, halting before his friend of fifteen years. They’d grown up together, and become each other’s wingman.

“Well, there’s plenty of fish in the sea.”

Charley sighed. “Can’t believe it! I mean, I’m a decent fellow, right? Why I can’t I get a good catch?”

“I don’t know buddy,” Marvin assured him. “Trust me, though, the tide will turn and your time will come.”

Charley shrugged, tired. “My brothers’ll tease me anyway. Let’s go before they turn up?”

And the two sharks swam into the deep ocean.

That which cannot be

As far as I knew, sassiness wasn’t Oakland’s specialty. And so I had to be there to see it for myself. If someone had told me that there’s a car in Oakland that’s beaded to the brim, I’d have said—no way.

Fancy car in Oakland

How badass are you?

When I asked myself that question, I had no answer. Sure, I’d shown cheek a lot of times, but nothing came close to being badass.

I define badass as being unapologetic in who you are. Unwitting, to an extent, but also uncaring of what others think of you and perceive your actions. Being badass is speaking your mind, showing emotions when emotional, and voicing every bit of doubt without worrying about offending or hurting anyone. And—most important—doing all that without coming off as arrogant.

In other words, kids are badass.

We all love kids. It’s not because they’re tiny and make us wish we were young again. It’s because of who they are. They don’t care about anything or anyone. They don’t worry about the consequences of being their own selves. Whether they’re hungry, angry, or sad, they show their emotions right away. They push, they pull, and they even make us pull our own hair apart, but at the end of they day we still love them. The reason? They don’t pretend to be someone they’re not. They show their true colours, in all its good, bad, and unbearable shades. And that’s what makes them so likeable. They are true influencers in a way. They get what they want without being rude, arrogant, and asshole-like.

Sure, kids are adamant at times, and almost scary when on tantrums. But they learn soon enough that frown-face doesn’t work as a smile does.

We learn that as kids. But forget as adults.

We grown ups are too conscious of our selves to be bold enough to speak our thoughts. We don’t want to look like a vulnerable school child. And that’s why we lose so much.

We’ve become so invested in preserving our image—the image we set for ourselves, the brand we try so hard to up hold. As a result, we’ve lost our lighter side. We see people in full suits, clean hair dos, and prim postures who wouldn’t dare put a toe out of line because it would wreck their reputation.

Afraid of losing face, of looking like a failure, we become rigid instead. We stick to what we know, ingrained in inertia, and force others to do as we say. While kids smile and declare their minds, we smirk and demand action. Like the boss.

But we don’t have to be that way. We can still still be ourselves without being childish. By being casual and light hearted, we become more approachable individuals. By flaunting our humanness, we become easy to talk to. And influential. We can be badass without being forceful.