Imagine that you’re walking through an enormous garden. It overflows with roses, tulips, lilies, and dozens of other flowers. There’s also a huge section dedicated to vegetables: lettuce, tomatoes, squash, and almost every other veggie you can imagine — an entire salad bar in the making!

And you stroll through this amazing, abundant, richly varied garden, holding a watering can, trying to decide which of these plants you’d like to water.

Unfortunately, you can’t water them all. After all, you’ve only got a limited amount of water in your can, so you’d like to choose something you really want to nurture. Something you really care about. Something you want to help grow. Something you really love.

So you walk up and down the rows of flowers and veggies, trying to decide what to water…and then you see it! Growing in a far corner of the garden is the plant you want to water! So you walk over to the plant, tip your watering can over, and pour all your water on…the poison ivy!

Sounds ridiculous, right?

But how often have you seen someone do basically the same thing? In other words, how often have you seen them spend their limited time, energy, and attention on something negative — essentially “watering” something that you wouldn’t think they (or anyone else) would want to grow?

We’ve probably all fallen into this trap at one point or another. I know I’ve been guilty of it (and may even be doing it right now to an extent — so I’ll make a shift as quickly as possible!). It might take the form of repeating something negative that you heard about — and getting worked up about it all over again! Or jumping into the fray of a mud-slinging discussion board. Or sharing (or even just clicking the “Like” button for) a cynical or mean-spirited poster making the rounds on Facebook.

This is totally understandable. In this day and age, it’s so easy to have your attention sucked into something that isn’t really worthy of your time.

But it’s even easier to find things that ARE worthy of your time — people, stories, pictures, and ideas that you care about deeply, that want to nurture, that you LOVE!

Anyway, getting back to the garden… It’s like you’re walking past all those beautiful plants and deciding which ones you’d like to water. And the truth is, you can’t water them all. Yes, you have an unlimited supply of some things (such as love and spirit and goodness), but on a practical level, your resources are limited:

• You only have so many hours in the day.
• You only have so much attention that you can give.
• You only have so much energy.
• You only have so much “water in your can.”

So the question becomes: How are you going to use it?

• If you only have about 20 minutes per day for commenting on blogs or interacting on social media, do you want to spend it complaining, tearing others down, or uplifting everyone who reads your words (and senses your spirit)?
• If you only click the “Like” button a few times a day, wouldn’t you rather voice your support for something that raises you up?
• If you only have enough energy to devote to a few projects per day, don’t you want to make sure that they’re worthy of your energy?

This gardening metaphor reminds me of a quote that a life coach once told me:

“Thoughts are like seeds; do you want flowers or weeds?”

She was making the point that habitually negative thoughts lead to negative results, while positive thoughts lead to beautiful results. It’s just a matter of which thoughts we “plant” and nurture.

And the same could certainly be said for externals — for other people’s thoughts, words, and actions. Unlike our own thoughts, we can’t necessarily control what other people think, say, and do; but we can choose whether or not to lend our energy to these words and deeds. We can choose to nurture them with our attention, or walk on by to something that nurtures US as well!

Yes, some people will spend their time trying to remove (or at least contain) the “poison ivy.” And that may be quite noble, but you have to be careful not to infect yourself in the process! Also, there’s a fine line between giving something energy in opposition and giving it energy in support. In either case, you’re giving it your energy — which can be like an infusion of fertilizer!

And wouldn’t you rather give your energy to something/someone you love? Wouldn’t you rather water the yummy vegetables or the colorful flowers? Wouldn’t you rather see those bloom and fill your life with health and beauty?

Clearly, the watering can is just an analogy. In most cases, you’re not literally pouring water on things you want to nurture — you’re pouring something much more valuable: every time you give your time, energy, and attention to something, you’re pouring YOURSELF into it!

And you deserve to have your energy go into the most life-affirming, soul-affirming, YOU-affirming places possible. You deserve to nurture your own highest self. You deserve the best!

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What do you want to “water” with your time, energy, and attention? What “plants” are so important to you that you’d like to nurture them and help them grow? What do you feel is worth pouring your heart, your soul, and yourself into?

Thank you so much for being here and “watering” me and my blog with your attention. I realize that you only have a certain amount of time each day for reading, so I especially appreciate you spending some of that time with me. I’ll always do my best to make it worth your while — to plant “seeds” that I feel are worth your time and attention — to offer words, ideas, and perspectives that I feel are worth nourishing…and will hopefully nourish you in turn. 🙂

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Photo by Viktor Gmyria.