Day 316/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
The delightful images of potted plants lining the verandahs of old Queenslanders and the terracotta steps of garden paths always enchants me. Especially appealing to my eye and interest, is potted citrus, no doubt touching a deep memory from my Italian roots.
Yet in spite of my efforts I have never been able to successfully achieve that potted beauty. Rarely have my potted plants lasted very long before I tire of trying to figure out what's wrong with them. It's only when I turfed them into the garden that I discovered that they were so root bound that there was virtually no soil and definitely no nutrition available to them.
Root bound. There's nothing that feels so root bound for the soul than a tendency to perfectionism. Contained within the confined space of "compelled to get it right" with no room to move, no novelty to nourish us, no flexibility nor impetus to grow.
As with potted plants, our roots become inflexible, rigid, and before long we find ourselves wilting.
As I became more interested and conversant with my own self-care, so too did I pay more attention to the plants in my garden, and eventually to the idea of trying again with potted plants.
The pot bound roots need to be gently teased out, the old soil removed and replenished with new soil rich in nutrients.
So too our roots need to be gently teased apart. The roots that bind us are often the left-over thoughts, beliefs, drives and ideals of those that taught and instructed us.
With gentle encouragement, presence and attention, we begin to see how we have learned to conduct our lives, and discover that many of those instructions no longer serve us. New choices open doors to new opportunities, new experiences and nourishing novelty. Our roots are loosened and just as the potted plant does, we have the feeling that we can begin anew.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.