Discontent in the Garden

I planted winter squash seeds yesterday--about 3 weeks too late according to my reckoning. The soil was dusty dry, and the afternoon had heated up to 88 degrees, so even the small effort of dragging a hoe through the clumpy, caked soil and pulling a few clods of field weeds drenched me with sweat.

This is one small vignette of discontent in the garden. I'm sure you could tell me your story, and then we'd commiserate with each other. Does this mean gardening is co-misery?

Listening to gardening conversations, you might wonder why people willing put themselves through such dissatisfactions with bugs, plant diseases, and weather. And then the comparing mind (the only one we have) looks at the neighbor's garden and wonders why my beets are 2 inches tall and hers are a foot tall.

All this discontent doesn't stop the green thumb from getting dirt under her fingernails. We know in our heart that joy and calm are lurking somewhere out there in the garden.

Pull the weeds of discontent--not by pulling weeds, but by simply relaxing into the garden as it is, without wishing for anything different. Contentment is a form of wishlessness, a place our heart can come to rest.

The mind is like Velcro for discontent and like Teflon for contentment.* To overcome this "negativity bias," we have to focus on contentment for 30 seconds in order to start building the neural pathways that will enable us to more easily fall into contentment.

Start now. Look at a flower for 30 seconds. View your garden through a window from inside your house for 30 seconds. Stroll through your garden in the early morning or after dinner and just relax.

* This paraphrase comes from a quote by Rick Hanson, author of Buddha's Brain: the practical neuroscience of happiness, love & wisdom.