If You Planted Your Heart, What Would Grow?

It's the beginning of February and smack dab in the middle of the month is Valentine's Day. For some of us it is a  wonderful holiday, for others it's just another day, and for some it is a heartbreaking reminder that they're single. I have been guilty of responding in all of these ways and probably various combinations. However in the past few years I have been using the holiday as a reminder to check in on my heart.

One of my favorite questions to meditate on is "If you planted your heart, what would grow?". It's a tough question to answer and even more difficult to answer truthfully. Sure, I would love to say that my heart would only grow a tree of fruit that is made up of beautiful light and nourishing love but the reality is my heart would also grow some less than favorable fruit at times. As someone who is comfortable wading in the light and the dark, and the area in between, I have grown comfortable seeing the bruised fruit.

When you think of nature and the fruit that gets damaged on the tree or is stunted and ceases to grow, you know it falls down to the ground. It falls and the nutrients seep into the soil. This enables the tree to grow. I relate this to the darker parts of my heart. The dark comes from experiences that may not have felt great, but those experiences provide for me. They nurture my soil and allow me to grow bigger, brighter, healthier fruit.

So in honor of a month where we are surrounded by hearts in one form or another I invite you to sit for awhile and ask yourself "If I planted my heart, what would grow?". Don't shy away from the ideas that are less than lovely. Embrace all the bits and pieces and honor the dark and the light in your heart. Once you take ownership of all parts of the tree of your heart you will be aware of it's strengths on all levels and see all the wonderful areas that it will continue to grow.