Imagine a garden. There is such a beautiful variety of colour, shape and size. Some blooms have been recently planted. Others are well established. They are the elders of the garden. Each plant relies on those around them to thrive. The connections between them are often unseen as they happen below the surface of the soil. The soil needs to be rich with nutrients for healthy roots and the plant needs adequate sunshine, water and protection to grow. These are the outer influences on the plant’s ability to thrive.
A loving gardener tends to the garden. Adding nutrients such as fertilizer and water, pruning off parts of the plant that have decayed and removing weeds that compete with the plant for growth. In time, each plant has the potential to thrive and perhaps it flowers. Gaining strength from the tender loving care and attention it receives.
As the garden matures, the gardener strikes new plants from the healthiest ones. The fledgling plants may stay within the same garden bed as their ‘parent’ or join another garden bed. New plants are brought in from the nursery to add diversity.
Where flowers bloom, so does hope.
Lady Bird Johnson.
The analogy of the garden mirrors our relationship with each other and the world around us. Each of us have been planted in a particular location or ‘garden bed’. We rely on both the other plants around us and on external factors in order to thrive. No plant survives long if it is on its own. Just as plants in the garden, we are interconnected and rely on each other for support and cohesion.
How can we bloom in our particular bed of the garden?
Compassion – both for others and ourselves. The whole community flourishes if we are aware of the needs of individuals and also the impact we can have supporting each other particularly with the most vulnerable. Compassion also needs to be extended to ourselves. Ensuring we have the right nutrients of well-being to flourish. I have seen some beautiful examples of how individuals and groups are supporting their communities – voluntary work, donations to organizations who support those in crisis or need, connection with neighbours, street pantries.
Advocacy – With courage and clarity we can speak on behalf of or in support of other people. Raising issues and giving a voice to the needs of marginalized groups who may be overlooked for recognition or specific support.
Teamwork – Balancing our own needs with consideration for the needs of the whole community. Checking if our individual actions or perspectives have a negative impact on the welfare of others. Working together to build a culture that ensures everyone’s needs and well-being are met and enhanced. Those needs can be as basic as the safety and physiological needs (clean air, water and food) for each individual, to the creation of social networks of belonging and ensuring pathways to continued personal growth and learning. Asking ‘Is this for the greater good?’, ‘Am I supporting this whole garden/community to thrive?’
Next time you are out in a garden, imagine the connection and support each plant is playing in creating the whole. As members of our communities we can help each other bloom. By providing the tender loving care of compassion, advocacy and teamwork we can make something beautiful.
