WHY FRUITS ROT

When was the last time you bought a fruit and didn’t consume it for the sake of ‘keeping it till the right time’? I’m guessing never.

Have you ever wondered why fruits…rot? Well, I have. And we’re not talking science or biology today. Let me let you in on something different.

Fruits rot so that we find no reason to keep them. So that we rush to eat them, savor their juices and be ridiculously happy doing it. So that there is no worry to keep them for a tomorrow, a next month, or a next year.

The reward for immediately indulging in a ripe fruit is its sweetness and nourishment. The reward for leaving it to decay is, well - it’s pungent smell and foul taste.

This is a good time to tell you that, this isn’t about fruits.

I had a conversation with a lovely friend once, who told me not to save an outfit for a good day. I told her okay. But inside, I chuckled. The lack mindset I had made me turn away from her very good advice.

Why do we even save stuff? The nice clothes, that new perfume, fresh idea, anything at all. What is so precious about tomorrow that we compromise our today?

We put the happiest, most fulfilled version of ourselves we can have today on hold, on a pedestal, for a tomorrow that we may not wake up to see.

When you save something - anything (and no, money is different), the many layers of conditioning you project from is jarring, and you may not even know it. If you begin to unwind the ball of yarn, you’ll find threads of fear woven through it - fear of losing control, fear born from low self-esteem and, at the core, a subconscious lack mindset.

Now, I don’t blame anyone for having a scarcity mindset. We all kinda do. But just like all the other unhealthy coping mechanisms that we may have forcefully developed as children, it’s something that needs unlearning, and fast.

Your Purpose & Ideas.

Purpose, passion, art - these things aren’t like money locked in a safe. They’re like water and breeze. They need to flow and dance and exchange. They need to be let free, experienced, feel and be felt. And most importantly, they need to be expressed.

Saving your ideas or keeping your creative work for any reason at all is not making you wiser, stronger or more ready. In fact, whenever you suppress a burning passion, you block the flow of many many others. It’s like turning off a faucet. The water is in there, but it can’t come out.

Perfectionism, the need to be in control, all of these are the devil to your ideas and your self-esteem. Human beings are creative creatures and everyone has a passion, an obsession, something their heart goes on fire for. When these aren’t safely expressed, your inner child is hurt, leading to self-doubt, leading to self-hate, then leading to a constant feeling of unworthiness.

When I say ideas rot, I don’t mean literally. But the rays of light that inspired that pathway of thinking in your mind - the conversation you had that day, the sunset you experienced - all gave you that idea. That different perspective. That new way of thinking. When you put it in a shelf, you may revisit it later, but the flavor, the emotion, the joyous and innovative energy you had then would have gone stale. That’s what I mean by rot.

And the one that kills us all - thinking that your creativity can ‘run out’. Most artists describe creativity like a muscle (it strengthens the more you use it and feed it with learning, experiences and reflection).

The fear that creativity can ‘run out’ is another small projection of a scarcity mindset. Creativity stagnates only when hoarded. You learn, expand and become better through it. Through making it, caring about it and sharing it.

John Keating in Dead Poets Society once told his students; “Boys, you must strive to find your own voice, because the longer you wait to begin the less likely you are to find it at all”

“But why should my voice matter?”

Every fingerprint is different. What makes you think that the person next door can convey the same ideas as you, in the same ways that you can, in your own very specific and unique forms of expression? From your endless patterns of thought to the chemistry of your brain, experiences from your past and the raving thoughts of your mind. Oh honey. The next time an idea pops in your head I want you to write it down. Draw it. Mold it. Cry it. Sing it. Paint it. Dance it. Pot it. Design it. Just use it. Use it today; the love, the emotion, the energy. Turn the faucet back on.

Material Things.

When we get a new item, the default mindset is to save it. Save it for an event, a birthday, or just for a generally better time. And I’m not completely against doing this but, there is a razor thin line between it being for genuine safety or just self-sabotage.

Spiritually, there should be flow and trust in one’s mind and body. A bad habit of always saving something for a better day will subconsciously rewire your brain into thinking a lot of things - that you may not get more of it soon, so you have to “save” it for the perfect moment, or that your current self is not worth it, or that God will not give you more.

God is abundant. Allah is abundant. The human mind doesn’t have the ability to comprehend even an atom’s fraction of Allah’s abundance. The limitations built by your past experiences should not be projected onto God or yourself.

Patch up that self-esteem and remember that God is always, always intentional. He put that thought in you for a reason. He gave you that item for a reason. He woke you up today for a reason. As long as your veins are flowing, your heart is beating and your brain is working, you have a purpose on earth.

And it doesn’t run out. There is abundance for everyone. There is room for everyone. There is creativity for everyone. There is love for everyone. Give things out. Detach. Liberate your heart from anything worldly and know that you are defined by nothing.

This isn’t about neglect or living heedlessly, it’s about trust. Trust in God and trust in yourself. Trust in your voice, thoughts and passions.

Breathe in. Deeply. Now out. See? So much abundance. So much air.

So the next time you get that fruit - doesn’t matter what it is - I want you to eat it, squeeze out all the juice that exists inside of it, do it with all the joy in your heart, and most especially, do it quick.

DON’T LET YOUR FRUITS ROT. And after you’ve enjoyed that fruit and squeezed all of its contents out, gather its seeds and plant them again. And remember to do it;

With Grace,

Always.