Dirt Therapy????



Garden Therapy



I reached into the loose earth and I scooped it up in my hands and I drew it towards me just so that I might pull those strong earthy smells into my very being. Perhaps that sounds crazy to you, but to me it was a wonderful therapeutic session. Please allow me to explain.

The Winter is at that point where you can finally feel her beginning to loosen her grip and the weather the last week has been beautiful. The problem is that I have enjoyed it mostly by looking at it through my office window, not by being out in it. But yesteday, I decided come what may, I was going to be out in my yard doing something. Winter being the finicky lady that she is decided to give me plenty of clouds and no sunshine and a slightly cool breeze, but I was determined to enjoy it if it killed me.

I am not an avid gardner by any means, but I do enjoy a good excuse to be outside and a garden is a wonderful excuse. I have my herb garden and several flower beds and a small vegetable garden. I have been preparing the soil as time allowed for I knew the planting season was coming and finally this weekend it was time for the potatoes and onions to go into the ground. That brings me to where you came in with me scooping the earth and soaking up the aroma that it was producing as I worked with it.

If you have never had a garden or flowerbed, then you will probably not understand. There is just something about the smell and the feel of the soil that I like. It was soft and gentle under my hand and cool to the touch but it had that smell. That strong earthy smell that held  me captive. So there I am on my knees in my garden running my hands through the soil simply enjoying the moment and it happened. I never even saw it coming. I was suddenly at peace with all things and all people. There were no problems that needed my immediate attention. There were no concerns at work. There were no problems in the entire world for just a brief moment in time. There was just me all by myself on my knees, enjoying one of God's most basic creations.

If you understand, then good. If you do not, then what is it that makes the world and all of the problems that it brings disappear for you? I hope that you understand what I am saying. My intent was simply to say that for me personally, I needed to find that thing that turned the constantly whirling side of my mind off and allowed me just to exist if only for a few moments.

As the day conlcluded, I went in and washed away all signs of the soil that I had so enjoyed working with. No dirt under my nails, no dirt on my knees, no sign anywhere of what I had been doing. Except for the contented look that was now on my face and the slight stoop from a back that was reminding me that I am growing older and not younger.