Metaphor of the Seed

Changes happen incrementally.

It can start with a question in your mind. Fertile ground.

Then someone happens by, sees this lovely soil waiting to do something, and plants a seed. A kind word, idea, action, all different answers to that question of the soil.

Then you might think about that for a bit, and wonder about it.

One day, you notice that that seed has caused you to make a different choice than you normally do. You react slightly differently, take a course that you never thought you would, or simply let something go that you never could before. The seed has germinated, and now you have a sprout.

“How lovely,” you think, and you have this nice feeling of expansion. It encourages you. You go on to make a few more steps of a similar nature. Pop! A few more leaves, and as this plant starts to branch, you suddenly get another insight into the original question. Maybe someone came by to water that plant, or all your thinking has done it for you.

Some time goes by and you just start to think of this as the new normal. Winter happens, and your plant lies dormant for a while. But soon enough, the spring comes again, and your mind is churning along this theme again. And then it happens, blam! You realize that this is no longer a plant. You have now have a tree, and furthermore, it is in full bloom.

“Wow,” you think. You enjoy the shade of the tree, and in a spirit of playful celebration, you build a tree house up in the branches that have now grown so strong. You climb up with your bean bag and some lemonaide, and survey the world around you. It looks so different from up here.

Then you look down to that original soil, that question you asked some time ago. You had no idea where it was going to bring you, but because you were open to the process, and not in any particular hurry, you have entirely changed your point of reference.

You are so darn glad you asked that question, that someone saw your fertile ground, and gave you that seed. Your life has expanded and you will never be the same again.

Oh wait! You look down across the way…one of your neighbours, friends, family…someone has just asked a question. There is some gorgeous soil there, just waiting, and you have flowers that are going to seed.