I recently saw a list on Facebook with the title “When Should I Plant?”. This made me think about humans and human attitude, emotions, actions and when humans should plant seeds of kindness, empathy, love, patience, understanding, compassion, and so forth. We humans have many opportunities to plant our seeds of human emotion. Human emotion can make a huge difference in someone’s life, but do we take the opportunity to plant those seeds at just the right time? Do we consider how our actions can sprout, grow, and bear positive fruit, or negative fruit? Or, is there really an exact right time to plant, nurture, and grow human emotion?
So, when should you plant? Should you wait to plant kindness only when you see someone in need? Should you wait to plant empathy when someone is hurting? Should you only plant love when you meet Mr/Miss Right? What about compassion or patience, is there a perfect time? I will say yes and no to these questions because there is a two-edged answer to the questions.
Seeds of human emotion begin when humans are first conceived, nurtured after birth, and continue to bear fruit from childhood to death. A child taught to criticize will continue to plant seeds of criticism. A child treated with love will plant seeds of love. A child treated with kindness, compassion, empathy, patience, understanding will treat others the same. So, first, planting seeds of positive emotion begins at the beginning of life.
BUT, time to plant also occurs when the need arises. You see a person struggling to open a door. Plant the seed of kindness by opening the door. You see a bully mistreating another person. Plant the seed of understanding and compassion by stepping in, stopping the bullying, and showing compassion to the person who is the brunt of the bullying. You see a homeless person, don’t look away and pretend the person does not exist, say hello, offer a blessing either in monetary, food, or spoken word. A parent at wits end could use empathy when the unruly child cannot be corralled instead of impatient stares or rude comments.
The time to plant occurs every day in everything we do whether at home, at work, or out for the evening. Spread seeds of positive human emotion, and those seeds will grow into more seeds of positive human emotions. Weed out the negative seeds before they take root and choke out the positive seeds. Don’t let the seeds of division take root either. Seeds of division will grow faster than seeds of cooperation, and will choke out any positive seeds planted because division blinds the eyes of both the sowers and the gathers. Keep your seeds positive. Keep your emotion positive. Sow, nurture, and gather the fruit of positivity and weed out the negative fruits that threaten your whole garden.
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