Every gardener knows that it is essential to aerate the soil every once in a while in order to let the soil breathe and give the roots room to spread out. Now that I have become a year-round indoor gardener, I don't have to wait until the ground softens after the winter frosts have gone to do that. I am able to give the soil in my indoor pots and planters a good stir every so often so that, even in the dead of winter outside, inside my roots and the soil they live in can breathe, stretch themselves, and grow.
As always, there is a lesson here that Mother Nature is graciously sharing with us. If we want things in our inner gardens - a.k.a our hearts, our spirits, our souls - to grow healthy and strong, we have to let the soil they are growing in breathe. That means that when we get bogged down in worry, blame, hate, and hopelessness, we have to find a way to stir our inner soil to let the bad stuff out and the good stuff reach out and stretch its roots. I'm talking about things like love, compassion, kindness, understanding, acceptance, hope, and joy. Some of the ways that we can let our inner gardens breathe is to stay away from negativity online and in the media as much as possible and spend that time reading uplifting material, doing things that bring us joy, and, especially, doing things for others. It is so much easier to love and appreciate ourselves, and grown ourselves into happy, healthy individuals, when we love and appreciate others.
Right now I'm about to loosen the soil around my begonias and the geranium that is outgrowing its pot. With any luck, they will be blooming before spring. May your own garden do the same.
Peace and blessing.
