Finding the Zen in Weed Pulling

I’ve let it go…. for the last 10 months…

Yes, I’ve been ignoring it, thinking “it will be fixed”.

Honestly, I even enjoy the aftermath in a self-justifying twisted way.

I’m talking about my gardens, front and back! Ever since we moved back to the U.S., I’ve been totally ignoring them. Why? Because we want to re-design and re-build the backyard, and the front too while I’m at it. The problem is re-building a backyard is a big project that takes time and planning, but it’s a perfect excuse for putting off the regular maintenance.

When the pain of looking at the jungle of weeds (some of them are as tall as me) gets too much, I finally called the professional gardener for an overhaul. He said: “you need some serious clean up here”. Ouch! The truth hurts, and the cost of a major clean up is REALLY going to hurt my pocket!

After we were done talking, as he pulled away from the curb, all of a sudden, I had the urge to pull out some weeds myself. I bent down at one corner of the front yard, mechanically pulled on the smaller weeds while thinking to myself, how did it get this bad so quickly, and what have I been thinking? Did I really believe that we can wait until we have the time for a major re-building to do anything about the yard?

For the next hour, I let my mind go dead and my hands took over instinctively. Each time I pulled out the roots, it felt really good. The loosening of the soil, the sight of a thin strand coming out of ground somehow made me feel lighter. After an hour of hard labor, other than a tinkling feeling of sun burning on my back, I felt incredibly calm and centered. I found my rhythm, and the work didn’t seem hard or tedious anymore.

In those meditative moments, I also saw the parallel between the physical garden and my money garden. When I don’t pay attention to it, it gets out of hand, and then I pay the price!

How do you tend to your money garden? Is it blooming with beautiful flowers? Or maybe you are about to plant some seeds. How do you decide which seeds to plant? If you are still searching for the right seeds, be sure to keep up the maintenance work in the meantime. (Hint: don’t do what I did!) Pulling out weeds on the regular basis is like tracking your budget every month, paying bills on time so they don’t pile up and you end up wasting money paying interest & penalties, and sticking with your savings or investment goals.

I hope you will find your zen in tending your money garden!