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Here are some ways your garden can help you deal with overwhelming feelings:
Little Flower At it's simplest, your garden provides a refuge or respite.
Little Flower If you're feeling stressed or anxious, use your garden as a quick timeout. Notice the beauty and peace around you. Soak it in. Imagine birds, butterflies, or perhaps a place to fish. Feel the warmth of the sun even in Winter, or the peace of quiet snow in Summer.
Little Flower During times of confusion, imagine going to your garden and tending to it. Weeding and pruning can be a powerful metaphor:  allowing the order you create in the garden to reflect the order you desire in your mind. You can make your personal garden a place to sort through problems and situations. You may need a secure and quiet place where you can expose and examine your thoughts and feelings without fear of judgment and repercussions.
Little Flower During times of fear, make your personal garden your safe place. Remember, you are in control. No one can enter unless you let them. Nothing in the garden can scare you unless you let it. Perhaps in this safe place, you can gradually allow yourself to be more aware of  your fears.  Remember that here, you can choose whether to act on your thoughts or feelings. Just explore and imagine, and remember that at any time, you can take control and change your garden.
Little Flower If personal conflicts with family, friends, or colleagues are creating anxiety for you, imagine using your garden as a place to think about different scenarios for your interactions. What's special here is that you are in control of everything.  If you get troubled by others' reactions, in your garden you can change them. Often, exploring in this way can help you find new solutions, new approaches, or new responses that you didn't realize were available.
Little Flower If you are sad or struggling with depression, your personal garden can be a sanctuary. Go there to play. Perhaps visualize yourself as a child [or as the child you weren't allowed to be]. Give yourself permission to play freely, without worrying what others might think. Remember, this is your garden. Allow a playmate to enter if that feels safe or play with the animals you have placed in  the garden or just appreciate the beauty around you.
Little Flower Create your own scenarios. The more you practice, the more ways you'll find that your personal garden can help you. Remember, your imagination is the only limit, and there's no way to do this exercise incorrectly.

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Jonathan P. Levine, CSW
2300 West Ridge Rd.
Rochester, NY  14626
(585) 225-0330
jonathan_levine@mlsonline.com
Updated on 06/12/2002
© 2002, Jonathan P. Levine, CSW