Our hearts and emotional well being is like a garden.

We need to nurture and care for our  “emotional garden”.

It is important to spend time watering our garden, allowing appropriate sunshine, pruning the unhealthy branches and adding fertilizers to it.  We also need to pull the weeds and remove the pests that may harm the plants.  Sometimes, we may wish to consult a “guru” or a mentor to guide us to enhance our gardening skills. With time, patience and effort, our garden will surely flourishes into a healthy and beautiful garden.

Unfortunately, many of us are not aware of the needs of our emotional garden.

This is simply because this garden is not clearly visible or tangible . If we have a cut on our body or sprain our ankle, we may see a visible wound or swelling, but if our emotions are traumatized and hurting, others may not see it or acknowledge it. Perhaps some of us may choose to mask our emotional wounds or pretend that  I am ok because of our perception that nobody really cares about me.

If we neglect, deny, or ignore the needs of our emotional garden, weeds or “lalang” will grow and our garden will suffers and will not bloom well.

Our emotional garden may be invaded by “weeds” such as uncontrollable anger, bottled up frustrations, vengeful feelings, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness, hatred, unhappiness, depression,  suicide, excessive fears and anxiety, distrust, addiction problems and impulsive behaviours.

However, If we seek to nurture our emotional garden with good ingredients such as healthy relationships,  hugs from someone who cares, unconditional love,  time to heal, self-awareness, self-control,  self-acceptance, good sleep, sound guidance from a mentor, social support, spiritual help, etc , we will reap  the colourful flowers of happiness, peace, love,  joy, gratefulness, contentment, kindness, hopefulness and meaning of life.

So I encourage you (including myself) to care for your emotional garden with tenderness, love and care each day.