New year's resolutions. You either love them or hate them. But they are a fact of life for most of us. Especially the fact that by this time of the year we've forgotten most of them.
I do trust however that one of the resolutions that's still fresh on your mind is to do something constructive about your interest in herbology - or something to that effect.
To help you succeed here's a few ideas to consider that might struck a chord with you.
How about doing nothing?
Yes, resolve to do nothing. As in resolve to be idle. I know, you've got a million things to do. There is no time for idleness. There are plants to tend to, recipes to try, courses to take.
As Sean de Souza points out, we live in a world that has forgotten what it means to be still. To just sit under a tree and do nothing. Not read. Not scold the kids. Not pick up the cell phone. Just sit and watch the world go by.
Before you delete this post. Please give it some thought. It isn't such a crazy idea. You DO NOT have to fill your day with stuff. Sometimes it is more beneficial to be idle. As in doing nothing.
No ways, I hear you say. I can never be idle.
Here is my challenge. Just try it. Even if it just for an hour this weekend. Well okay, I'll be fine with 15 minutes for a start, if you insist.
Just be lazy. Just watch butterflies. Or watch the weeds growing. But be idle.
Do what Henriette's (a reader of this newsletter) father used to say: "Sometimes I sits and thinks. And sometimes I just sits."
Because, says Sean, as an ancient Chinese saying goes: "Man who sits by river all day, and doesn't think it's a waste of time, is a wise man."
Don't you have a more 'active' idea?
I certainly do. And if you are up to this challenge it will save you from 'losing it' as you grow old.
Let me explain.
Theunis from Potchefstroom Garden Pavilion recently shared the research results of Professor John McCallum of Victoria University in Melbourne into activities that will cut our risk of dementia, with me. According to Prof McCallum: "One activity that will cut your risk of dementia by a whopping 36% is pottering in the garden."
And pottering is - doing nothing much - says my Oxford Thesaurus.
"Daily gardening is a complex variable, and we can't really isolate the 'active ingredient'," says Prof McCallum. "It's a combination of being physically active, eating the good fresh food that they grow, and having a sense of future and purpose."
What's more, gardening, even if it is just pottering around in a pot on a windowsill, reconnects you with the absolute wonder and beauty of the amazing creation we call nature. It reconnects you with the Divine Presence of our Creator in everything around you.
And when you 'food garden' you experience first hand the truth of "… and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine." (Ezekiel 47:12) Now that is reconnecting don't you think?
May I challenge you?
Whilst living out your herbology resolutions, BE IDLE to spend time with our Creator and to thank Him for the wonderful gifts He has bestowed on us.
If you are up to this challenge then let me know. Just click the Comment link below.
And if you need to re-learn how to potter in your own food garden check out Go Food Gardening.
