A garden full of thoughts
April in the garden is an unpredictable month. At the beginning there is little to see and at the end, after a lot of hard work, there is not much to demonstrate the toil you have put in. We have been renovating a muddy section of our garden and whilst there is now a new patio, the surrounding beds are smarter but no fuller than they were 6 weeks ago. This is despite a lot of digging, forking, composting, wheelbarrowing and at the end some raking and turf laying. Although no flowers yet, metaphors have bloomed.
Hard work with little immediate evidence of outcome is common within many parts of our lives. Relationships take time and regular nurturing. Initially a lot of spade work might show nothing but underneath you start to create a rich, healthy base for friendships to form and companionship to blossom. In the last 6 weeks my father-in-law has painstakingly prepared a new asparagus bed and planted a crop. It will be three summers before he can reap any rewards but it will be worth it.
Physical exertion is beneficial on multiple levels. There is nothing better for our bodies than mobilising, stretching and bending. As we get older this becomes harder but the benefits greater. Mild muscular discomfort or aching joints are common and normal; resting and stretching after an energetic day is sensible but if aches are predictable then it makes more sense to take the tablets before the activity. It is the equivalent of oiling and regularly using a trusty pair of shears; it makes them last for a lot longer than if left in the back of the shed. Painkillers and stretching are the oil for our hips and knees.
What is very clear as I open the curtains each morning and look down on our efforts is that slowly with time flowers will bloom, fruit will ripen and vegetables will grow. Some things will be predictable, some will be controllable and others will simply take us by surprise. Some projects will fail but there is no point in dwelling on these because we can just do some more digging and start again. The patch of soil always has the potential to become something more enjoyable. Life can be described as a bed of roses and whether we see this as a comfortable soft pillow of petals or a thorny, uncomfortable, difficult to prune mesh is often due to our current state of mind. Life can seem like both of these at times and will vary unpredictably for all of us. However, we can control how we view it. One person’s “intermittent showery day” is another’s “quite a few sunny spells”. Looking for the positive can be hard work, but just like April in the garden, it is well worth the effort.
Anthony O’Brien
Wyndham House Surgery