Six Messages from a Wild Garden

Message 2: Seasons

Rob and a grandson in the garden at Evergreen when cosmos are bursting into flower.

When I spend time in my garden on the south coast of Western Australia, it tells me about six things that start with the letter ‘S’.

Seeds. Seasons. Sunshine. Soil. Suffering. Sweetness.

Today I want to share my garden’s message about Seasons.

Seasons

In the same way that there are seasons throughout the year, there are also seasons in my life.

• A time to grow.

• A time to be fruitful.

• A time to be dormant.

• A time to let go.

These patterns in my life of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter can span a decade, a year, a week, or all happen within one day. Let me explain.

Spring - A Time to Grow

A typical spring scene at Evergreen.

Spring – a time for tiny things to start growing – can refer to my whole childhood. Or new growth can happen any time in my life as I move in a new direction: a new job; a new interest; a new project; a new enthusiasm. This has happened many times in my life and may happen again tomorrow. Or maybe next year.

Spring can burst into my life at any time.

A Time to Be Fruitful

A typical summer scene at Evergreen with figs slowly growing.

Summer – a time to be fruitful – can refer to my middle years, when all the growth I experienced in spring enabled me to give birth to five children, write books that were published, start a garden with my husband at Evergreen, and begin a new career path when I was sixty.

Although the experience of bearing fruit may seem behind me now that I am retired, I find that I haven’t exhausted the gifts of Spring. I am still bearing fruit through the act of intention. I have learned the lessons of nature. The earth never runs out of its offerings of bounteous fruit, so nor will I till the day I die.

Summer can burst into my life at any time.

A Time to Be Dormant

A typical autumn scene at Evergreen.

 Autumn – a time to be dormant – comes to me at various times. Daily sleep. A holiday. Sickness. A rest after exertion. Or perhaps I have been working on a manuscript for months and it’s time to put it away and turn my thoughts from mental creativity. Give my overactive mind a rest. Just stop. Be still. Be silent. A lot of invisible, undetectable things happen when I am peacefully dormant, when I let go of the incessant urge to be doing.

Autumn can burst into my life at any time.

A Time to Let Go 

A typical winter scene at Evergreen.

 Winter – a time to let go – goes deeper than mere dormancy. It’s a total giving up on something I’ve been working on that I now realise is going nowhere. It’s releasing beliefs that have entangled my brain for decades. It’s saying a final goodbye to someone. It’s moving on from a habitat that no longer suits me or a habit that is holding me back. It’s feeling – and accepting – the chill and yet the thrill of personal cessation, before I die and sink into eternity.

Winter can burst into my life at any time.

 We Are Seasonal

I am part of nature.

I am seasonal.

Since conception, my life has followed the cycle of the seasons in a grand sweep from birth to an inevitable death, as well as mini cycles plotting my physical progress.

Recognising and accepting these large and small cycles help me move through them with energy, peace and grace.

Like me, you are part of nature.

Like me, you are seasonal.

And that’s a wonderful, liberating thing to realise because then you never feel stuck.

You sense yourself as eternal, unstoppable flow.

With love, Marlane