an area of wild things
growing in my backyard
drew my attention –
I have never watered or fed
the things growing there and yet . . .
that area has bushes and flowers
that grow and some that
wither and die . . . an untended garden!

CYCLES—life going on without any “help”
from me and I wondered . . .
are there areas in me that grow or
do not grow without my even
being aware of them—untended areas?

That brought me to think about—
HOW who I am has been influenced
by others around me –
family, friends, teachers, life experiences,
and more that can be seen by others
in my “nature,” my behavior, my attitudes,
my words and often I do not even notice
when I am showing some of those
influences until someone says to me : “
you are just like ______” (fill in the blank) or
“you sound just like ______” (fill in the blank) . . .
and I either feel insulted and
reject the reference or
I feel good about the connection  
and accept it.

STOPPING to think “WHY?”—
it seems to me that I need to stop
and think about why someone pointed
that trait out to me and connected it to
some one or some thing and
why my reaction was what it was.
I believe I have “untended garden” areas
that I should examine and
choose whether to water and feed
those areas or pull out those weeds
and plant some better seeds.

BEING AWARE—listening to myself and
what others have to say about me
can help me become more aware
of my “untended garden” areas and
lead me to make some choices
to “tend my garden” to grow
what I want to grow.
I choose the seeds –
I choose to water and feed –
I choose to tend my garden . . .

I do not want to be
an untended garden
letting anything grow there
or wither and die there –
I CHOOSE to tend my garden . . .