Happy Planting

I love planting dream seeds in my heart garden.

In the beginning, my heart garden looked a lot like my three year old granddaughter’s real garden with too many seeds randomly strewn and not enough space for any one in particular to thrive.

She’s four now, and this year her garden has the makings of rows, and a pattern, and way fewer seeds. She’s learning to plant with more intention and focus and I’m learning to plant my heart garden the same way, too. 

In the past, I sort of let volunteers spring up and take over. They’ll do that in your regular garden, too, if you don’t carefully weed them out. I wasn’t always intentional about what I invited into my life. Instead of thinking about what might create more happiness for me, and then proactively working to achieve it, I played it safe and took whatever came along.

I was afraid to want something and go after it, for fear I wouldn’t get it. Back then, I believed that not getting it would be far more devastating than not trying. It took me a long time to bust that myth. It turned out that was the myth that stood between me and the great life I knew I wanted, but didn’t know how to get.

Busting your own myth, the thing that gets in the way of growing your happiness, unfortunately involves doing the thing that scares you the most. Therein lies the rub. For me, it was learning to fail successfully, to put myself out there, to try new things win or lose. It took a very, very, very, long time for that dream seed to grow but when it did, it was well worth every second of the wait.

Spring is here. Let’s think about our heart gardens and the dream seeds we’d like to plant there. Don’t worry about how practical they seem or how long they might take to grow. Plant them anyway. Soon, you’ll see little dream sprouts peeking though at you. Keep your eye on them, love them, believe in them, do things that nurture them, and before you know it, your dreams will be in full bloom, showy flowers and all.

Caren Albers, author of Happiness Junkie - A 12 Step Program to Find Inner Peace and Change Your Life. carenalbersinspirations.com