Weed . . .The Verb
I think the consensus is that most people like flowers and plants. I also think that most non-gardeners want a beautiful garden that requires little or no maintenance. However, to imagine a living thing requiring no maintenance is a kind of disconnect from Nature herself. What may discourage many people from putting in a garden of their own is the chore that is usually dreaded: weeding. But, might we see the act of weeding as something restorative, rather than toilsome and mind-numbing?
I confess that I didn't always enjoy weeding. I just considered it a necessary chore, But I have come to think of weeding differently. Weeding my garden gives me permission to have acceptable down time, looking like I'm hard at work as I slowly transition to meditative time and allow my body and mind to wander through the plants and touch the soil rooting me to a different world. I begin to feel as if I am cleaning out all of the unwanted minutiae in my mind to make it available for new growth. The physical act of weeding somehow helps me to reconnect to myself. When i begin, a million thoughts pop in and out of my head. Sometimes a song from my past, with seemingly no relevance to my present state, will play over and over, mimicking the garlic mustard and thistle, garlic mustard and thistle, garlic mustard that I weed. As I edit the garden of weeds from the original ideas that I planted, the plants are once again enhanced by the uncluttered space. The song in my head has vanished. Now the planted idea has more room to flourish, I see that I have extracted all the ground ivy and dangling participles, allowing a beautiful moment of clarity and intention in my garden and in my life. I will completely enjoy this fleeting time before the weeds return.
