Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
As you probably have already gathered, I’m a keen gardener, and a great fan of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Situated in the Province of the Western Cape of South Africa, it is, in my humble opinion, believe one of the most beautiful botanical gardens, in the world.
My weekly mental workout
At least once a week, unless I’m away, I head off to Kirstenbosch for a lengthy walk. Ostensibly, the walk is part of my fitness regime, but in reality is a whole lot more.
It’s my quiet time, my time to think problems through, reflect and plan.
it is also my opportunity to reconnect with the natural world, which is an essential part of my personal happiness.
Seeking solutions with solitude
This morning, I wanted to use this time, to think through a personal challenge, that is proving to be a stumbling block for one of my key projects for the year.
My goal to clarify why I hate talking about Money
At the risk of boring you, I will try give you the briefest description of this because it is not really that significant a detail in today’s blog post.
For some years we have owned a wonderful little holiday home, in a beautiful part of the Western Cape. Over the years, I have allowed close friends and family to use the space, and all have loved it as much as I do.
Time has moved on, and my treasured space needs to start paying for itself. In other words I need to ask said friends and family to contribute financially when they stay there.
My difficulty is I find it uncomfortable to talk about money, I always have, even when I worked for myself I hated chasing down non-payers.
Beneficial distractions in the garden
Five minutes into my walk and my need for a deep, confrontational moment with myself, has evaporated. I am caught up in the magic of the garden, and my thoughts take off in a whole different direction.
When I walk, I choose not to listen to music or podcasts. For me, the Garden is a sensory experience. I need to hear the breeze through the trees and the hum of bees in the bushes. I don’t want to be distracted by someone else’s thoughts or ideas, I’m supposed to be thinking about me.
My real thoughts today in the Garden
I’m not deeply philosophical, and I’m sure my thoughts are not unique, but in a strange way my errant thoughts proved helpful.
Gardens whether tiny, like my humble home garden, or on a grand scale, like Kirstenbosch, are a great analogy for our lives in general.
All gardens start off unformed. They need careful preparation and nurturing, if they are to thrive. The more we put in, the more we take out.
Garden’s are a system, of which plants are only one part. You need healthy soil, to promote healthy growth. This in turn attracts vital insects and birds and other wild life, which are necessary if our garden is to continue to flourish. The life lesson is obvious there.
Once established, gardens need maintenance. Gardens do not self-regulate; we need to prune back some plants, so other can thrive. We need to remove weeds, and replenish nutrients, and avoid using harmful toxins. These rules can be applied to us too.
Then, there is the reality that you can plant a few identical plants, in the same space and, despite the same treatment and the same nutrients, some may simply fail to thrive.
There isn’t always an answer for why things are the way they are, sometimes you simply need to re-focus your energy onto another part of the garden. That works for us too.
Annual Maintenance
The beauty of Kirstenbosch can be attributed the dedicated teams of gardeners working every day. Today is particularly busy. I can hear chainsaws and several times I dodge larger pieces of mechanical machinery. I assume, today’s heightened activity is some sort of annual maintenance programme.
Again this is something we could all apply to our own lives. Nothing beats an unemotional assessment of ourselves once a year, to help us re-prioritise what’s important, and chop out what’s not.
My lightbulb moment in the Garden
Always at the end of my walk, I sit down to enjoy a delectable breakfast at the Kirstenbosch Tea Garden.
Today, sitting there, I watched a constant flow of local, and foreign visitors arriving to enjoy the Park. As they pour through the turnstiles i realise they have all paid money.
Kirstenbosch is beautiful, it needs to be seen, and enjoyed. To keep it pristine and functioning, takes work, and dedication, and that costs. The Garden needs to earn its keep.
I want to share my special place with people who matter to me, but I need to charge a small reasonable fee to make this a continuing viable solution.
I need to take the emotional component out of this, it’s not about me being greedy, or using people, it’s practical. Just a part of life.
I’m off to send that email.
brenfinding5th.com 