The inner garden !

I visited a garden a few days back and stood at its entrance wondering which of the paths I could take. I took the one above and found a garden area that looked to thrive in summer with with lavish display of exuberant colours. 

After the walk in to different parts of the garden, I noticed a long corridor with avenue trees on both sides of another path with no end in view. The distant view of the path from where I stood, gave me no indication of what was ahead. 

 

That moment became an occasion of an inner consciousness of my own life journey in the last seven and half decades. I walked through the inner garden of my life feeling protected from both sides with the tall trees and the shade they offered to the path. Instead of rushing to walk to see what was at the end of the path, I decided to take a slow walk, recalling memories of different seasons of life. Half way through that half an hour walk, I was interrupted by a friend, who came for a conversation. 

I felt having been in a  pilgrim resort at the end of the visit to a garden. What was significant was the opportunity it gave me for a short inner pilgrimage. 

Two thoughts stayed with me at the end of that interrupted inner journey. Most of the events till marriage were events which appeared to occur in a random way at that time, but now, I find them as having been essential to the formative experience in my life. The second was a sense of gratefulness towards some I met during those years, whom became companions for many years, a few even into the recent years of life.

A good blend of inner consciousness of the formative process and memories of people who showed the way beyond!

I suspect that the inner garden in our life, is likely to be even more colourful than some of the gardens we might visit. 

The journey to the inner garden is a way to endear life and its vocation. A short walk alone is not enough. A long walk,  taken for chronicling the meaning of life experiences,  as they are seen now, is a redeeming experience. The interpretations of some experiences would have been arrived at earlier with short sight, but with more insight and foresight, those experiences would bring a new or revised meaning now. 

In that sense, our past is dynamic and ever changing because of our revised perceptions. I felt that some experiences which I thought to be disappointments at that time, were turning points to lead me into a different path in life ! 

Th visit to our inner garden is one way to revise our impressions  and optic! What was a trauma then is now a healed wound, what was a failure then is now an enriching experience; what was then a stress is now an essential stretching needed to grow in resilience!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)