Mindfulness & Gardening

Image credit: Paul Danese, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

I love gardening. For me, it is one activity where time seems to disappear, and I lose myself in a flow state. I tune into the plants in my teeny yard and garden and try to mindfully connect with them to understand what they need. Mindfulness & gardening go hand-in-hand.

Gardening is just one more way we can tap into our right brains and calm anxiety. It’s a great way to connect to the more-than-human world and digitally detox. I find myself leaving my phone in the house so it doesn’t distract me, and I cherish this time away from commitments. The only task at hand is to tune into the natural world.

Two weeks ago I was in the middle of some major outdoor projects. As a city dweller, much of my gardening had been in pots. I had been secretly plotting the demise of my invasive privet hedge for years, and due to a friend with excess materials to build raised beds, the time had come.

It took me about a week to rip out about 40 feet of privet. Fortunately, it had been a rainy spring, making the pulling of the roots much easier. After getting the raised beds built, I was then able to move many of my potted plants into the new beds and in the ground.

As I walked back-and-forth along my yard, I noticed that I kept encountering a catbird. I usually see the catbirds right around the time my blueberries start to ripen, but the bird’s behavior was different. I paused to investigate and noticed that the catbird was on a mission. All of the tiny twigs and debris I had been leaving around the yard from my projects are what the catbird was seeking. It was clearly building a nest.

When I realized what the catbird was doing, I stopped my work just to watch her hunting for twigs. I started moving a bit more slowly to try not to startle the bird from doing her important work.

The thought that my tiny yard is supporting the next generation of animals and insects made me so happy. And, if I hadn’t taken a pause to mindfully connect with nature, I might have missed this opportunity. The catbird reminded me that even when working in the garden, it’s important to stop and look around at the amazing world around us bursting with life.