“The answer lies in the soil” – I love this phrase.
It was one of my dad’s favs that he used in a very tongue-in-cheek way, semi-taking the mickey – although there’s a lot of wisdom in it.
This is because gardening can be high value, and not simply because of the rewards of what nature produces. It’s also been shown to be therapeutic on a number of levels including for our mental emotional, spiritual, relational and physical wellbeing.
It’s worth checking out this blog 1 from the Mayo Clinic in relation to improving our mood and decreasing stress levels.
I was reflecting on our monthly learning for life feature, for not only the obvious sources of learning in my life – like my weekly latin american and ballroom dancing classes with Chris, plus language-learning via duolingo for bahasa, indonesia, spanish and mandarin. Also via my passion of playing classical guitar, and upskilling by participating in several local predator trapping groups to help the native flora and fauna.
There’s nothing like the hands-on approach!
Sure I can read books and I can find out from those in the know, especially given that I’m blessed with a bestie and both sisters who are avid gardeners.
And by golly there’s always so much to learn! – from the best time to plant, where to plant, to effective ways to protect against things like cabbage white butterflies, rot + mould, slugs and snails.
I’ve definitely found that some of what I observe on my gardening adventures can be metaphors for life. One being that our plans may all be in place, and we start off great however something ends up being obviously amiss and a plant fails to thrive.
So whilst I can seem to be on track, sometimes the road takes a different turn and it’s all-over-rover.
How about you – are you, or someone you know, a gardener?
Looking forward to connecting with you and diving deeper on this one in this week’s#AlivewithFi!
Fi Jamieson-Folland D.O., I.N.H.C., is The LifeStyle Aligner. She’s an experienced practitioner since 1992 in Europe, Asia and New Zealand as a qualified Osteopath, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, speaker, educator, writer, certified raw vegan gluten-free chef, and Health Brand Ambassador.
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¹Gardening has been shown to help to lighten our mood and lower levels of stress and anxiety – https://rb.gy/4fa91s