Monday 30 April 2012

April Showers Bring May Flowers


April showers bring forth May flowers.



Aim to weed out the worries in your life

As I was sitting in the garden looking at the variety of yellows and green and blues I spied a spider’s thread blowing in the wind. It was barely visible. In fact it was only visible when the sunlight caught it at the right angle to be seen. It was a fleeting moment because the gently breeze moved the thread and it was gone – invisible once again. I knew it was there but I could no longer see it.

This encounter started me thinking about the inner garden we all have in our minds.

Mary Mary quite contrary

How does your garden grow.

With positive thoughts and dreams

Or worry weeds  row upon row.

Plan and nurture yourself for a brighter outcome in your ‘garden’.

Plan to make positive changes by looking after yourself more. Practice new ways of thinking  and acting. Healthy alternatives take time to become a pattern, but just like your garden be patient with your efforts and the seeds will lead to healthy plants of thinking and acting. Plant healthy beliefs and nurture them until they have a good root system. When healthy self belief plants thrive the worry weeds have greater difficulty in taking hold.

So put things in perspective and be a calm patient gardener. Plan to plant good healthy self belief plants and root out the worry weeds as soon as they appear.

Root out the weeds of anxiety, stress, and phobias which cause poor health and self esteem. Root out the unhealthy and rigid ways of thinking. Root out the behaviour weeds such as avoidance rituals, safe patterns, perfectionism and trying hard to please all the time. Perhaps you see an anxiety weed and you may choose to ignore it, thinking that it will go away and die off. Perhaps it may eliminate itself- not very likely because it is an anxiety weed with deep, well established roots.

Perhaps you feel ashamed about an issue so you choose to ignore it, deny it or avoid it. Well setbacks are normal. Weeds grow everywhere but don’t assume the worst. The weeds can be dealt with using patient endeavour. Remember worry weeds grow best when you  are run down, under stress or when you are ill. So don’t leave the garden to fend for itself, resist your old behaviours.

I ntroduce new varieties of positive plant patterns in your inner garden. You could try new varieties such as healthy thinking, being more flexible, being more accepting of yourself, managing uncertainty and allowing mistakes to happen. The more varieties you plant the more colourful your inner garden will become with less weeds.

Life in your inner garden will flourish and be more colourful when you take positive action to cultivate it and root out the worry weeds. No garden is weed free so planting desirable plants is not enough of itself. You need to continue to water and feed your new varieties of plants. You need to keep up with the weeding in order to maintain a lovely healthy inner garden.

List the factors which enable worry weeds to grow.

Seasonal changes

Lack of sleep

Lack of activity

Hassles piling up

Little or few social interactions.

Feeling tired

Disagreements constantly

Demanding boss

Disagreeable workmates



Sound familiar?



So just be a happy gardener

Be calm

Use setbacks to plan a better response next time.

Identify the set backs and plan ahead.

Put things in perspective – look at the whole garden not just the patch in front of you.

Be compassionate with yourself.

Remember the colourful gains.

Face up to the weeds of fear and root them out.

Set achievable goals

Hang on and things will improve.



So Mary Mary quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

With lots of positive plants and flowers

Because I gave the worry weeds the heave ho.



Whenever you want help with your inner garden just contact me  on info@lakelandandbaytherapy.co.uk

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