There is an Irish version of an universal proverb – An te chuireas, ‘se baineas – He that sows will reap.
That’s often thought of as ‘put the effort in and you will gain, don’t and you wont’ – a sort of timely reminder to pull the finger out.
In a mindful context, this seanfhocail could be considered as a direction on cultivating positivity and attaining goals. It directly expresses the reward of positive action; if you do, you will achieve something.
It is a familiar concept – and we hear it quoted a lot – but do we really hear it – it says get reward. Many of our endeavours can seem fruitless or less than bountiful but maybe the reward is in the life long achievements or accumulated living moments and not the short term gain.
Maybe the four tomatoes on the vine is not the bounty but the sandwich of one of them you share with a friend is the real gift, the true benefit. Your community garden may not make the community awash with free food every day of the year but it makes a community.
So while we must weed the negative and tend to all the chores in the garden, so too we must sow the positive – see the positive grow – appreciate our efforts and the rewards and succession sow too.
head afire 