MARCH NEWSLETTER

LOVING LIFE

I went out into the garden this morning after many days of rain and strong winds. I had planted 19 tomato bushes and a few other ground crawlers like zucchini, pumpkin and lemon cucumber when the sun was last shining. Standing at the gate of my garden I could hardly see the tomato plants. The tall weeds had grown up all around them. It seemed like a daunting task to take on those vigorous weeds. I took a deep breath, got down on my knees and began pulling one weed after another out of the damp earth until I had made space for all my plants to breath. Looking at those plants that had been crowded out and forgotten I felt an unexpected pang of compassion for them. They had been neglected. This is not new for my plants. I have tended to stick plants in the ground and then let them fend for themselves. The result is that most of them died. If there was a social service agency for plants I’m sure I would have been turned in and not allowed to grow things unless I was under the watchful eye of a social worker.

This May I have been teaching a 4 week series on loving kindness. We have been practicing walking metta, loving kindness, meditation, stoking the fires of love towards ourselves, our beloveds, those towards whom we feel neutral, people we feel aversion towards, out and beyond to all beings. We have been saturating our hearts with loving kindness. The practice is so simple, we all have done it to a certain extent but need to remind one another to deepen our capacity to love, to stretch our love muscles just as we would exerciser our bodies.

When I walked out into the garden I felt an unexpected wave of compassion for the plants that were struggling. I made room for them to feel the sun and got out a bucket to water them. Even though they had been amply watered by the rains I wanted to give them some extra attention. I poured water on each plant, looking at them and said to each one, "May you grow and thrive", letting myself feel love for each one as if they were my children. One of the stories I came upon in preparing for the loving kindness class was about the Venerable Walpola Piyananda. When he was a 12 year old novice ( young monk) his teacher sent him out to water the plants at the front gate of the temple. On either side there was a jasmine plant. His teacher advised him to water each plant equally and give them an equal amount of fertilizer. The only difference between the care of these two plants was the young monk was to speak kindly to one plant and not the other. The plant that was praised and comforted grew faster and flowered more luxuriantly. There are many other experiments, both scientific and anecdotal, which have given the same result.

We all need the love of one another to grow and prosper. We can struggle along like brave weeds coming up through the cracks of the sidewalk, but in order to truly thrive we need love. If this is so effective with plants imagine how powerful it is to tell our family members, each one every day, how much we love them! We find things to praise and lavish that praise on all those around us. Not only will they thrive but we will thrive as well. Our minds become saturated with loving kindness and we begin to feel a current of peace within that stays with us throughout our busy days. The old way was to withhold praise for fear of spoiling the child. I’m not sure where that came from but it has done untold damage. It just makes sense to give positive attention to one another before a bid for negative attention needs to be made. It may take awhile but, just as with seeds in the ground, in time our love will bear beautiful healthy flowers.

Jacqueline