MInd Gardening

I like the two-word term "mind gardening." It's coined by Dr. Patrick Dorman, creator of the "mind gardening" process. Maybe, because I like nature, flowers, or green plants. But more than that, the term provides a beautiful picture to me of what takes place in therapy and counseling. Dr. Dorman points it that way when he says, "When you have a lot of emotional baggage, it clouds your ability to interpret events in empowering ways."    

                                                                                

A few years ago, I had this middle-aged man running after me in the coffee shop. He wanted so much to talk with me. So down, he did spend hours with me sitting and moaning about being dealt a bad lot in his life.  Even after some time, he still complained a lot and you can feel heavy-heartedness and sadness in his presence. Surely, his emotional pain arose out of how he chose to interpret the events in his life on an ongoing basis.

Interpretation. I think that's what transpires in "mind gardening." In therapy, shifting perspective and interpretation allows you to choose from a new beginning, a new place, where you are empowered instead of disempowered. It's an opportunity to examine disabling interpretations and invent new healthy perceptions to heal and expand.

Everyone of us at some time will receive a bad blow. Unless you consciously choose your interpretation, you'd get stuck and shut down in some way for fear of getting burned again. It's imperative to know that you do have a choice in how you view your trauma or losses, the people around you, and your self. You can't always choose what happens to you. But you are blessed with a free will. You can always choose how you are going to interpret each event in your life and how you are going to use it to move forward.