therapeutic neglect

no doubt about it, fall is my favorite season.  i enjoy bringing in the harvest even more than i love planting the garden (not to mention my sense of time being somewhat warped, it seems as though we just planted it!) 

it feels nourishing to follow the light and temperature, flyovers of geese, as time markers instead of digital clocks and calendars.  first frost is the time to pull out old plants (this always reminds me of ecclesiastes) and put the garden to bed under a cozy layer of bark chips.

i really fussed over armenian cucumbers this season.  a friend wanted some and she doesn't ask for anything for herself, so i made it my mission that she would have these cucumbers.  one thing after another befell my attempts but, through a community approach to gardening--thank you family & friends, you know who you are!--she had her wish.

pulling out old vines, would you believe i found what i was least expecting?  a beautiful, armenian cucumber hidden under the leaves (and not nibbled on by critters, always a bonus).  i hadn't even noticed it, proof that this melon-type delicacy prefers to be ignored.  i ate it for lunch while pondering the metaphor from the garden:  therapeutic neglect.

sometimes, counter to the natural leanings of my personality, it's best to just leave well enough alone.  plant things and walk away.  pray for situations and let them go.  demonstrate care and then rest.  

anne morrow lindbergh reminds me of this when i re-read her gift from the sea.  we can, contrary to the shrinking of the world through social media, only personally care for a few people well.  to give our attention to everyone and everything at all times, well, i know my tender heart just won't make it.  but i can care for those in my realm and trust them to their perfect time on the vine so to speak.

winterizing also reminds me to prepare my mental strength, to shore up psychologically, for winter by tending to my thinking patterns.  i can't hold too much in my brain right now, but i can remember the golden rule:  treat others the way you would want to be treated (a skill which my kindergarteners rock, by the way).  

what might the concept of therapeutic neglect mean for you right now?

and what are your tips for winterizing your thoughts for mental strength?