There's More Than One Way to Kill a Weed

Yes. I know. That's not how the saying goes. But just the thought of skinning a cat makes my stomach turn. So I changed it. There.

The point is, there IS more than one way to kill a weed. That is, if you feel the need to kill them at all. Some weeds are useful, you know. Example: a dandelion is said to be a weed, yet they are excellent cleansers. Dandelions have been used by Native Americans for eons. The Iroquois Indians ate boiled dandelion leaves along with fatty meats to avoid indigestion. When the Ojibwa had heartburn, they drank dandelion root tea. The Kiowa women mixed dandelion blossoms with pennyroyal as a cure for cramps and PMS. The Mohegan drank dandelion leaf tea daily as a tonic to keep their energy levels high and to stay free of stomach aches and constipation. Other Indian tribes collected the young leaves in the spring and ate them with other leafy vegetables. Dandelion tea can be used as an herbal detox to help cleanse your liver and kidneys. And to relieve water retention. I'm sure there are hundreds of other beneficial uses for the 'weed', but you get my drift.

Not all weeds are 'bad'.

Same goes with those beliefs we call 'negative'. Or 'limiting'. Or 'harmful'. Are you sure? Are you sure they're not there for a good reason?

I pose this today because of some very interesting conversations I've had lately. Seems that this whole idea of 'bad' and 'good' may just be skewed. Maybe instead of seeing things as 'good' or 'bad', we might like to look at them without judgment at all. Like...they just 'are'.

Here's what I mean:

What if we have this belief that when we 'die' we will either go to heaven or hell. {Bear with me here. Crazy as it may sound to some, there are millions of people who believe in such things. I may not be one of them, but that's beside the point.} There is no actual proof such places exist. There is also no proof that they don't exist. Either way, it doesn't seem to matter much to those who believe in this philosophy. Does it serve them in some way? Does their belief in heaven and hell make them better people? Do they use this belief to monitor their actions and/or keep themselves aligned with their higher good?

Beliefs are merely thoughts we think...over and over and over again. That is how they become beliefs. With enough practice we can adopt any belief. It's a matter of consistent thought and a resonance in the heart. If it 'touches' us, it stays. If it doesn't, we ditch it. Right?

So then, we make the decision to keep rethinking a thought, which then turns into a belief, which then serves us in some way or another. Is this good or bad? Guess that depends on how it (the belief) either enhances or diminishes our life. Make sense so far?

What if we decide to have a look at our beliefs. Really take inventory of the things we believe in. Like make a list and then go over that list carefully. We look at the list and ask, "where did this come from? Is it mine or someone else's? Did I pick this up from my parents or some teacher or a long-forgotten experience? Where did it come from and does it apply to me NOW?" Then, one by one, you can either keep it or ditch it. There may be some beliefs that did happen to serve you at some point, but now they're passe and no longer needed. You get to choose...and rethink those beliefs.

This is just one way to weed your garden. Taking the time to put your hands in the dirt and really examine what you want to keep and what you want to dig out and toss. You can choose to keep the dandelions or not. You can choose to keep half and dig out the rest. Or you can wait until your garden is so overgrown that you can't tell what's what. In my experience, tending to one's garden on a regular basis is much easier than waiting til it's a mass of tangled ick.

And then there are the flowers...

{You'll have to wait on that part. One thing at a time, okay?}