“Man’s mind is a garden…”

James Allen wrote this wonderful passage in As a Man Thinketh: “A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.”

This is obviously true, but there is a blind spot here: What if your garden is built on a toxic landfill?

That’s the idea behind letting go. The foundation of the mind and your mental life, is emotion. In particular we focus repressed emotion. Repressed emotion is the “soil” upon which you tend your garden. You can control your thoughts, and have a decent garden – but if the ground is rotten, you’ll wonder why your garden doesn’t last, why your flowers die so quickly after planting them.

But if you create some “good” soil, if you get rid of repressed emotions, and then you garden, that is, work your thoughts, you’ll create a garden that endures and flourishes!