The Seeds That We Water Are the Ones That Grow
The early days of Earthbound Farm, mid-1980’s
The most basic lesson I learned when I first became an organic farmer was that the seeds we water are the ones that grow. This isn’t only true for lettuce, arugula and carrots; it’s also true for weeds, which wait patiently in the soil for the chance to spring to life.
One of the first spiritual lessons I learned from my father—a man who overcame the trauma of the Holocaust and unrelenting depression to become the happiest person I ever knew—was the importance of watering seeds of joy. “I choose all that is delightful and makes my heart rejoice,” was his mantra.
Skillful farmers pay close attention to what’s happening in their fields. To ensure that their crops have everything necessary to thrive, they must remove the weeds that compete for space, sunlight, water and nutrients. This is especially important early on in the growth cycle, when seedlings are small and more vulnerable.
My father gave this same level of attentiveness to his beliefs and mental patterns. He often called thoughts “thought-forms,” meaning that they are made of mental and emotional energies that actually take on a life of their own. He strongly believed that positive thoughts not only make us feel more joyful and optimistic, they actually function like messengers sent out into the world, each one having an impact. “The same holds true for negative thoughts,” he wrote, “So we must be careful. The power of beliefs to create good and evil should never be underestimated.”
My father credited the vivid daydreams he nurtured when he was young with setting the stage for his accomplishments as a grown man. “Those images I created as a boy were like magic seeds planted in the ground, waiting for the right time to germinate. I sent visions of love and freedom into the universe—thoughts of better times to come that were never extinguished.”
Quest’s “Circles of Light” initiative—healing circles to uplift ourselves and the world during these especially challenging times—is exactly the kind of thing my father would have loved. He was always encouraging dreaming—the prerequisite to making any dream come true. When I think about the countless innovations we consider commonplace today, innovations that would have seemed like science fiction to my father’s family in Poland in the 1920s—space travel, computers, cell phones, video conferencing, even email—they all started with someone’s dream, coupled with the determination to turn the seemingly impossible into reality.
A brilliant inventor who was always searching for novel ways to improve nearly everything, my father wrote, “Before I could build a machine, I had to design it in my mind and keep the visions alive in my head as the concepts blossomed and matured. I stubbornly held on to these ideas through thick and thin, even though they didn’t always manifest the desired results right away.”
A big part of my father’s healing journey was consciously disregarding his cynical mind, choosing instead to cultivate a childlike innocence and faith. He was a pragmatist who viewed believing in magic as a more intelligent choice than believing in misery. “When we believe in limitation and suffering,” he wrote, “Limitation and suffering is what we get.”
Trudy Goodman—the deeply wise meditation and mindfulness teacher who founded InsightLA and is a generous Circle of Light contributor—believes that the powerful energy we generate when we are aligned with love has an enormous impact, now and for future generations. “The world needs the light of our loving awareness to move humanity towards the highest interest of all beings. While activism takes many forms, it always stems from the conscious intention to better ourselves individually and collectively. Choosing to connect with the best inside of us and to then radiate that love outward is a powerful form of activism. Together we can radiate love and light far and wide, to all communities, with their diverse cultures and perspectives.”
No matter how turbulent the times, we can and should dream of a healthier and happier world—a vision that we can both take refuge in and help actualize. Since guided meditations are a great way to get the energetic ball rolling, today I am happy to share a beautiful Circle of Light recording by Debra Silverman—a journey through the four elements that create and support all life and connects each of us to one other: Water, Air, Earth and Fire. It’s an enlightening and relaxing 15-minute voyage that I hope you will enjoy. I’m also sharing a lovely Zoom recording of Quest’s pilot Circle of Light, led by Hilary Nicholls who will lead Quest’s live circles.
I hope you will consider joining our first live Circle of Light on Tuesday, October 13. Participants’ video and audio will be turned off, so you can simply relax and enjoy a 20-minute break from the disheartening news while you recharge your spirit. For me, this whole initiative means choosing to honor the optimistic dreamer within me instead of being held down by my pessimistic inner cynic—to become a farmer who waters seeds of positivity with a hopeful and happy heart.
