Pay attention to the signs, they're guiding your growth

The practice of trusting your inner-guidance

In the garden, the best way to guarantee a pitiful harvest is to forgo diligence and expect everything to go perfectly without effort. As in life, the garden demands the gardener to show up regularly, with intention, to pull weeds and to notice any signs the plants are in distress.

It takes a cunning gardener to notice the smallest nuance indicating trouble. The posture of a bell pepper could warn a lack in nutrients or a shortage of water. A seed refusing to germinate could inform improper growth conditions—a wise gardener doesn’t ignore the signs.

The habit of regularly checking on the health of each plant is the key to addressing problems before they spiral out of control. When a harvest is truly desired, the attention to growth is never ignored. Rest comes after the harvest, not before.

In your life, there are always signs of adversity where your growth is concerned. Resentment, fear and settling for less than you deserve are just a few (of the many) indications that something in your life needs to be addressed.

Chronic conflict, dissatisfaction and confusion indicate that your connection to the natural wisdom within is getting weak. It takes uncomfortable persistence to not only trust your inner-guidance, but to take consistent action throughout the duration of each growth season.

The regular habit of building self-trust

The most (difficult) and effective way to regularly reinforce a relationship with your inner-guidance and nourish your true nature, is to trust the voice within.

Most of the time, people think that they do not know their intuition or don’t know how to trust themselves. This is not true, everyone knows their intuition very well, but most choose to ignore it.

Your intuition is constantly guiding you to heal and evolve, but the assignments always require change and discomfort. Many people do not believe they have the strength to answer the call from within.

Ignoring the signs is the opposite of nourishment

When your intuition is attempting to get your attention, you will get a ‘ping’ or ‘download’ that something is off or needs attention.

Just as it would behoove a gardener to figure out why their plants are weary, it makes sense that when there are indicators that something is not quite right, you would get out your monocle and get to the bottom of it.

Many times, people ignore the signs that something is wrong. They know that addressing the problem might require more courage than they have, or will require a phase of discomfort. So they ignore the looming infestation in their garden and hope that by magic, everything get resolved.

The cul-de-sac of creature comforts

The best way to nurture your growth is to regularly check in with your intuition and take consistent action. When you constantly ignore the signs, you might notice that you are in a cul-de-sac; going around in circles and barely making progress.

Or even worse, you may trick yourself into believing that ignoring the problem made it go away, until it comes back again—even stronger. All of the creature comfort you run to when in denial (doom scrolling, online shopping, shutting down) will provide temporary relief, while simultaneously letting your garden run wild.

Without your awareness, the weeds will get taller, the leaves will turn brown and the fruit will be decimated by pests. A ignored vegetable garden will become unmanageable before long; when all it took was a bit of regular (and tedious) nourishment and maintenance.

The signs are already there

Your intuition always knows how to keep your life in balance. You already know if your life is steady—your triggers and reactions to everyday life is an indication of how strong your connection is to yourself.

A wise gardener pays close attention to each plant and its needs. When there are signs of distress, the wise gardener has trust in herself that she can solve the problem.

A wise gardener never lets the garden get out of control and doesn’t ignore what is right in front of her. She is not afraid to get her hands dirty and she doesn’t neglect that which needs her attention. She knows that growth requires boundaries and nourishment and that she can only rest after the harvest.

Sincerely,

Ashley