The grass and weeds that creep in over the edge of my gravel driveway were making me nuts. I would pull in to park and it was the first thing I would see. It's almost impossible for the weeds not to do that without using some icky chemical spray to kill them or having me down on my hands and knees pulling the weeds out. They are freakin' glued down I swear.
Sometimes when life feels out of control, ( as if I ever really have control ) doing things like mowing the lawn have a real sense of satisfaction when the job is done. It just looks so nice. Kind of like vacuuming. But lately when I finish all I can see are those dang weeds along the driveway. "OK, so I am obsessing," I think to myself. I am a visual person though so stuff like that is an eye sore. I was locked in to thinking a certain way about these stupid weeds. Like weeds can actually be stupid. As if they are actually out to get ME. Me me ME. They are just doing what they do... growing. That is what they are supposed to do. They are not over thinking like I am, they are just BEING weeds. But I want to control them. Ha Ha Ha.
Then one evening, my daughter Ella and I took a nice summer walk. It was warm and the sun was getting low. As we got back to the house she says, "Don't you just love the front of our house. It feels so homey especially in the summer. I love how the weeds come up in the driveway." SAY WHAT? I laughed to myself and thought, "Well there you go, a new perspective on the weeds." I was delighted to hear her say that home felt homey for one thing, because I always want her to come home and feel welcome and cozy here, but to hear her say how the weeds in the driveway made her feel that way (along with other things) was just perfect. Her statement shook me out of my one track mind thinking. I started to look at the weeds in a whole new light. Did the weeds change? Did they all of a sudden decide they would do something nice for me by being "homey?" NO... I just saw them through the eyes of Ella. My perspective had changed knowing that those dang weeds were a part of what made my daughter feel warm and fuzzy about her house. In a split second, the weeds were something I adored when not a second ago they were like a constant reminder that I was "out of control." Life was messy and I was in it. Hmmmm.
So maybe there are other things I can practice looking at that make me nuts and see if I can see them differently. Maybe I can see them through NEW eyes and find delight or at least not waste negative energy thinking about them in a bad way. Those weeds are just weeds. I obviously can't control them but I can work with them and find ways to think about them that is more productive and positive. It is my mind and thoughts that make the weeds annoying and ugly. Obviously, Ella sees them in a whole other way. "Let the weeds be," I say to myself. "Then you will have more time to take nice long walks with your daughter than spending time swearing at the ground pulling weeds from a driveway for goodness sakes. I mean really." The weeds are awesome, they feel like home!
Happy summer.