Watching the Grass Grow

This weekend, I spent some time sitting on my deck reading.  The book wasn't holding my attention and I found myself gazing out onto my lawn.

A few years ago, when I moved to this house, the lawn was really new.  It didn't look so much like a lawn as a really short corn field with the grass seeds just sprouting in rows with very larges bare spaces between the sprouts.  It has taken a couple of years but with some attention and fertilizer, the yard is looking pretty good.  There are still some small bare patches where the grass hasn't filled in all the way but I am pleased with the progress.

I am sure it would have come in quicker if I had installed a sprinkler system but I have issues with using drinkable ground water for watering the grass (not to mention paying for the electricity, water, etc to make the grass grow so I can spend more time and gas to mow it).  The point is, the yard is coming in slow but sure and I am happy about how it is looking.  By the end of summer, it might even look great!

My lawn is a lot like creating a habit of mindful eating.  When you start, you might see some nice rows of neatly sprouting mindfulness but there are going to be bare spots between them -- the bare spots might even be pretty big.

But with some attention, education, and practice, the mindfulness starts to fill in and spread.  It might take longer than you want but your mindfulness will grow so that it covers all of your life.  When you work on your mindful eating practices like this, you let the elements of your life (parties, happy times, sad times, busy and boring times) play a role in nurturing your habits.  There might be some times where you forget to be mindful -- but when the practice is slowly (and therefore sustainably) grown, you are putting deep roots down for your behavior change.  This is a natural cycle of grow, nourish, and grow again.  The filling in process will happen naturally without overwhelming your resources and time.

I have to admit, it frustrates me that I don't have a gorgeous yard yet.  On the other hand, I haven't had to give up any of my fun summer activities to make sure I am home to water, fertilize, mow, seed, etc.  -- you know, all those things that are necessary to get a beautiful lawn in one or two seasons.  And summer is too short to let your lawn (or your weight loss) run your life.