Ah, Spring…

Birds chirping in the morning; sunshine; little pops of bright green buds on the otherwise naked trees; daffodil shoots bursting through the ground; squirrels clinging to my screen door until I bring out the nuts. And then you see them…

WEEDS.

I don’t really feel any specific malice toward the bothersome, ugly things. I put down the black mesh that inhibits their growth and, when I do come across them, I mercilessly pull them out and toss them into the trash without so much as a second thought. And that got me thinking…

… why don’t I treat the “weeds” littering the path of my life in the same ruthless way?

I’m referring to the obstacles we encounter on our personal journey to success. Often, the detour itself puts us in the path of someone who can help us in our journey, or presents us with a situation that causes us to see our course from a different perspective. Detours needn’t be bothersome.

There are, however, those pesky, unwanted problems, situations, and/or people that seem to continually pop up on our otherwise beautifully manicured path no matter how many times we think we’ve ripped them out. When this has happened to me, the first thing I ask myself is:

“Nicki… are you doing something that keeps inviting the weeds to come back?”

Let’s all answer that question together, shall we?  YES. The answer is nearly always, yes, I am.

Are you finding yourself repeatedly coming up against the same hurdles in your career? in your personal life? with your weight loss program? in your relationships? Often, we don’t do the hard work to truly rid ourselves of the most detrimental obstacles: the barricades in our minds. We have to get our hands dirty and sift through all the weeds and the mud and the clutter before we can lay down the fabric that gives us as clean a slate as possible on which to cultivate a beautiful life.

Will there still be a few weeds that slip through the fabric? Yep. Will we still have to pluck them out and toss them aside? You betcha. No one said maintaining our paths would be easy, and if we want a beautiful one, vibrant with life and color, we have to be a bit merciless in keeping ourselves in check so that we don’t invite the weeds ourselves. It’s easier to complain about them  being the eye sore of our garden than it is to discipline ourselves to recognize weeds when we see them, to know when we’ve put up the “weeds welcome here” sign, and when to get some heavy duty gardening done.

What weeds do you have on your path? Are they the tiny ones that barely have a root, or are they of the crabgrass super weed variety? Spend some time today and make a list of your weeds and what strength weed killer you’ll need for each of them. You’ll be surprised how many have taken root after seeing the vacancy sign you’ve got all lit up.

Happy gardening!