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In early spring during my walks around the sheep and llama field, I watched the farmer behind a local inn plant what became a flourishing, organic garden.
She tilled the soil and lovingly infused the Virginia clay with rich compost.
She padded up the rows, planted precious seeds down the center, gave them a deep drink of well water and covered them with hay.
One day when I arrived for a walk in the late afternoon, I saw her standing there, caked with dirt after a long day’s work, just looking, smiling with arms crossed, admiring her co-creation with nature.
This. This is good. These beautiful, bountiful things.
By mid-summer, the garden was teaming with every imaginable vegetable.
Flowers graced the entrance of the tool shed and cherry tomatoes climbed high on the border fences of the garden. Herbs lined the walkways and painted rock signs marked each row.
The harvest was a mirror of the love with which the seeds were planted.
Like the farmer, we can think of every act of kindness toward ourselves as an investment in the harvest that we have to give to others.
Every act of kindness toward ourselves.
Like the process of preparing the soil, we can be loving to ourselves, even in moments of doubt or failure, when no tangible result of our effort is visible.
Like the process of watering and nurturing, we can nurture our Spirits when we thirst for encouragement, strength and grace.
Like a farmer at the end of a long day, we can stand back at dusk and gift ourselves with gentle kindness.
We can admire the strength and courage it took to give what we had to give, and love in the best way we knew how.
We can forgive our missteps and notice the small victories.
This. This is good. These beautiful moments of today.
When we plant seeds within, with compassion and tenderness, we grow beautiful, bountiful things.
In The World:
Be kind to yourself today, lifting, encouraging, and loving yourself in thoughts, words and actions. You are a beautiful, precious Spirit deserving of great love. Recognize your magnificence by planting seeds of kindness within, and you will have a bountiful harvest of kindness to give.
In The Heart:
I am kind and accepting of myself just as I am. I nurture myself daily by being gentle and loving in thoughts and actions.
It’s impossible to truly love others until we learn to love ourselves unconditionally first. —Anita Moorjani
The garden shed behind the inn.