The wisdom of the potting shed

[nedd]

I'm up to the elbows in compost repotting a geranium when I have one of my moments. It's a tired looking affair and I consider consigning it to the compost bin. The pot is far too big for it I concluded.

And suddenly I think that's exactly what's up with the flagging spirit. My life is too big for the body and I'm floundering in others expectations, work, and the mechanics of it all.

It simply can't be filled as it used to given nonstop pain, limited energy levels and I can't even see the list of to do jobbies through the fog.

Oh that it were as simple as down sizing to a smaller pot. What does that self help manual recommend. Something about pacing and acceptance. But not a jot about repotting.

[nedd]

And now I have to accept I walk funny too.

[Ginsing in reply to nedd]

Acceptance oh yes the way to go just make sure you are the master of funny walks first.

Keep potting x ginsing

[RockRose in reply to nedd]

Oh Nedd, thanks for raising a real grin with the new Serenity Prayer, I so appreciate that !

Funny frog walks !

And...

I'm touched by the feeling in your words...and in how you put things, about the the way life feels too big for the body and the feeling of floundering, and the sense of others' expectations and the mechanics of it all.

I feel for those understandable sometimes-flagging spirits... and how you venture to pot geraniums...and how you touch us today with that lovely humour !

And you have my every empathy, as one, among others here, who share with you, something of a parallel experience...

I'm feeling something about a real gentle transition...and about placing roots in ground that more supports you...where you are given the utmost trust and respect, where you set the pace and tone for yourself....as true to your real being...(beyond all 'human doings' and others' expectations...)

Yes, I agree with you Nedd, its truly far easier said than done...

And sharing some of my parallel experience... in a phase of transition...in parallel with the body's new needs...and so far, not knowing the new ground, yet realising the old one isn't a fit anymore... I sense the deeper change...

For me, I gradually let go of some of my inner conditionings, feeling my way in what I really *can* do...and where the boundaries lie...and where to say a clean *no* where once I would have leapt into a response...

And, then, imagining how I would treat a 'best friend' in the same circumstances...beginning to cultivate a deeper self-compassion...and honouring the body...and listening to its real calls, releasing the old responses, so that moment, by moment, I begin to learn how to live as well as humanly and realistically possible, within these new grounds, which are so different from before. (This is a huge learning curve for me Nedd, if that makes any remote sense?)

And, how I'm feeling when reading you.... is a sense of a moment to really breathe and be....just to be...and just to feel...your good self and how things really are...(with a li'l boost from the likes of those Frog-Friends... and humour, with eyes that water with tears and laughter, sometimes?

And perhaps...gradually... a sense of 'transplanting' to a new earth (for a moment, releasing ideas of sizes, of big-ness or small-ness.. or any-ness-at-all )...

Imagining a ground that welcomes your roots, your core and energy, your very self, where you may breathe and relax...feel the solar warmth and rest a-while...

free of expectations.../

And Nedd, I don't know if this makes any sense or speaks to you (and feel really welcome to puff-away a single word of mine that doesn't feel right to you See - away it puffs now !)

I hope something comes-through, this moment when you read, to know you're amongst friends and to feel appreciated and hopefully, understood.

Joining-you in the funny walks...See you at the Froggery Bar !

Thanks again for your wonderful, humourous and very real post.

Kindest wishes

Rock Rose

[nedd in reply to RockRose]

Thanks for your reply much struck a chord.

X

[RockRose in reply to nedd]

Thanks too, Nedd, feel touched X

[Hidden]

Love the serenity prayer

I feel the opposite way round, I have so much to do but not the energy to do it or pain stops me so I feel more like a bush that has been pruned too hard just to make it fit the pot if has been given

I am useless at pacing and find acceptance difficult, but would freely offer that advice to everyone else

I am game to try the funny walk though

[Ian123]

A workshop manual on the mechanics of it all - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, although there is some doubt that the spirituality was alcoholic variety.

Gone to pot as grow your own herbal remedies

[fenbadger in reply to Ian123]

1 we're all potty to some degree

2 I've read that book, and "The Tao of Pooh"

I went to pot and to seed ages ago

[nedd in reply to fenbadger]

Was it a typo should it have read weed.

If so the US recommend four puffs a day. For pain relief.

[fenbadger in reply to nedd]

Sadly, no. I really did go to seed

Just cos "s" and "w" are adjacent I haven't lost all my marbles. Just most of them