I like this edition from Maria Popova…

“A person is not a potted plant of predetermined personality but a garden abloom with the consequences of chance and choice that have made them who they are, resting upon an immense seed vault of dormant potentialities. At any given moment, any seed can sprout — whether by conscious cultivation or the tectonic tilling of some great upheaval or the composting of old habits and patterns of behavior that fertilize a new way of being. Nothing saves us from the tragedy of ossifying more surely than a devotion to regularly turning over the soil of personhood so that new expressions of the soul can come abloom.”

John Gardner on the Key to Self-Renewal Across Life and the Art of Making Rather Than Finding Meaning

We’re multidimensional and can grow in any number of directions. As I’m continually tangled in the survival of life’s challenges especially the grief that knows no name, I like this perspective. To me it links with the Buddhist concept of feeding the seeds, it reflects there is choice and opportunity in making ourselves what we want and need to be.

It’s no accident that I’m reflecting on this the day after Kaveri has returned to school. She represents a bountiful section of the new garden..

I wish MAnjula’s presence and attentive love was physically with me to help with the gardening. We’ll all manage together, in this new chapter.