a g a rd e n i n t h e e a st quick fix, but I cannot simply change one aspect of my life in order to see real change. This wild place needs more than a cosmetic clipping. Wild places need careful tending. I will have to dig deep to free the soil and the roots. I have to change the way I think about the body, the way I think about health and wellness, the way I think about what (or who) is beautiful and worthwhile and valuable. I have to start to hammer away at the old messages, and that needs to happen before I even begin to make changes to what I eat or how I move. This is groundwork. But it starts even deeper than that, even before I leave the metaphorical potting shed and move into active tilling of that soil. I consider for a moment what I might say to this body/child that I love but with whom I am not pleased at that moment. Should I withhold love until the body changes or does something that shifts that perception? Why would I even consider saying these ugly things to this body? To withhold love and care based upon those criteria would be an action that shows an obvious lack of compassion, an obvious lack of the deep and abiding love that is required in order to flourish and grow. Why the disconnect? Habit, conditioning, a lack of awareness, or maybe I just have never been given permission to love this garden, to heal it and to see it as beautiful already, worthy and able. In those moments before I have seen anything change, before the tilling, before the planting, before I’ve had a
24 Copyright Š 2016 by Angela Doll Carlson. All Rights Reserved. Published by Ancient Faith Publishing.