On Cultivating One's Gardern

Spring is in the air, and it’s a potent reminder of everything I love about nature – the continuous cycle of growth, decay, and rebirth, as well as the participation in the transformative process of solar radiation into material substance. This month’s newsletter is all about the lessons I’ve learned from cultivating the Earth.

1. Delayed Gratification – An exercise in conscientiousness

Anyone who’s taken care of plants knows that the reward of doing so comes over time. The proverb of an old man planting a tree he knows will never produce shade for him but will for generations to come drives this concept home. With modern technology and places like Fast Growing Trees, the proximity of reward is much closer but it still requires time to nurture and care for them frequently. Just like setting a goal that is 3-4 years in the making, one has to stay true to the course and devote time, energy, and resources to achieving the desired outcome while facing inevitable adversity and loss of the motivation that comes with the novelty and excitement of starting an endeavor. Conscientiousness is a personality trait that I like to define as a sense of dutifulness and a desire to make things better – an acknowledgment that while current needs may be met there is still information to extract from the unknown and to improve the manner in which those needs are currently met. For myself, tending to nature and putting effort into a future-oriented project that will return my temporal investment with fruit of the Earth is an exercise in conscientiousness that augments my intellectual and social pursuits.

2. Management of Expectations – Premeditatio malorum.

The exercise of meditating on the potential for negative things to happen is one I have practiced clinically for a while – acknowledging the uncertainties of life and recognizing that assigning appropriate probabilities to potential events can buttress against anxiety and fear. The trick is to not weigh the negative potentials so heavily as to be overwhelmed by them, and to additionally identify mitigating strategies for the most statistically relevant ones. For example, motor vehicle accidents are relatively common, so wearing a seatbelt, not texting and driving, operating a vehicle with a high safety rating, and paying attention to the road are all strategies to mitigate the very real possibility of a debilitating accident. Where gardening has brought this practice further for me is having to navigate the very real possibility of losing plants over the winter season – a terrible instance after spending months and months preparing, watering, and supporting them. While there’s no guarantee that a freeze won’t take them out, preparing for loss has been the best way to buffer myself against the pain when it does happen – and creating an action plan to both assuage the chance and also to let go of optimistic expectations.

3. Creating a Garden – A marriage of chaos and order

When I first heard Jordan Peterson lecture on Genesis and the story of the Garden of Eden I was enamored. I’d never had such an abstract conception of the story, but it made so much sense. The idea that paradise, a word whose etymology means a walled park/garden, is created when one works to organize and construct order around the natural, chaotic environment resonated so deeply within me. We as beings-in-the-world have a responsibility to enact careful dominion and order over the wildness of nature and derive information and understanding in the process. It’s such a beautiful relationship to have with existence in general and to acknowledge our place in the circle of life as conscious, conscientious participants. 

 Happy Spring to all - I hope that this newsletter promotes some internal growth.