Weeding

Before my walk today, I was pulling out a few weeds in the square foot garden. Why is one plant a weed while another plant is desirable? The mint plant grows like a weed, and it can choke out other plants, but I cultivated the mint in the garden. Rather then being an undesirable weed, mint is refreshing, soothing to the stomach, and may even help with allergies.

When one plant begins competing with another plant you cultivated, it chokes out the beneficial roots of the one you wanted. Although the mint plant has many healthy qualities, it will overcome the other plants. I had to move the mint plant to a separate planter to give it room to grow. The undesirable weeds that have no benefit were removed.

As I was weeding, I was thinking about all of the things in my life that squeeze out my time and energy for the things that are most important to me. I can have relationships that get too competitive and take away from my strengths. Sometimes I need to create space and not hold to closely to a relationship that is smothering my light and growth. I have things in my home that accumulate and crowd out the things that are most useful to me. I can even hold onto beliefs that are no longer helpful to me. I sometimes don’t realize they are weeds until I clear them out and realize I have so much more room to breathe. 

60 minutes walking