Monday 20 May 2013

Learn to be silent. The Mindfulness Garden Chelsea 2013


 Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb. In silence you will see benefit in all things’

Learn to be silent.  Let your quiet mind listen and absorb.
In silence you will see benefit in all things

It’s tempting when life is busy to rush everything.  Every conversation is cut short, meals are eaten on the run, projects lay scattered half finished and you wakeup the next day with more on your to do list than there was the day before, despite having worked from the moment you open your eyes until you shut them.

Certainly for me life is so busy I am almost caught on a merry go round that is stuck in 5th gear and I’m not sure how to slow it down.  So despite it feeling like a great inconvenience, I do make the time to meditate. I am a superfast at making myself relax and I will admit it’s not for everyone, but I take about 15 minutes out each day to practice mindfulness and it really grounds me.  It’s as though my world is turned into slow motion.  I listen to every breath and connect myself to now. It’s amazing just how much good it does me.  Occasionally I go the The Buddhist Nagarjuna Kadampa Meditation Centre based just down the road from me in Kelmarsh, to a drop in class, but mainly I meditate at home.  If I am out and about I play Speigel in Speigel, which just transports me out of myself. 



I was at the 100th Chelsea Flower Show today, and although I was tempted to rush about and try and capture every garden, instead I decided to catch one and share the one that really caught my eye.  Strangely for me it was The Mindfulness Garden which is designed to remind show visitors of the need to focus in uncertain times that took my breath away.   I spoke to Martin Cook who explained that the garden contrasts chaos and turmoil against calm, mindfulness and quiet through careful and somewhat playful planting and use of sculptures. The garden features paving and a carved seat by Martins son and a carved spiral made of Cumbrian blue/black slate. The York stone paving was carved with lines from Rudyard Kipling’s inspirational poem ‘If’ and the slate you can see in the photo about is inscribed with Pythagoras’s verse ‘Learn to be silent. Let your quiet mind listen and absorb. In silence you will see benefit in all things’

* Now there is a challenge.  Certainly for me ... Learn to be silent.  Stop laughing ...   I have been know to be quiet .. very occasionally. 





5 comments:

  1. I love this sort of romantic garden. My son (who is a landscape designer and worked on the Australian Garden a couple of years ago at Chelsea) is right into this type of planting and I must say I really like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh It was such a privilege to be there. x

      Delete
  2. Hi Vanessa, I'm Lin Cook (alias Morvah) - no relation..Looking for pictures of Martin's breathtaking garden I stumbled on your blog - what a nice bonus. I hope you don't mind but I have taken the liberty of posting the whole article to my facebook page as I have friends who I know will like it too. (will delete if you wish)..so pleased to find you - thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lin .. no delighted that you have shared .. let me know if you would like any other pics as I took a few

      Vanessa
      x

      Delete
  3. I meditate regularly too.it helps me to relax and put my mind and body in order at the beginning of the day.I've always wanted to go to Chelsea flower show, I'll have to make the effort one year.

    ReplyDelete

If you are reading my blog I must warn you that I am not impartial. I want to influence you. I want to make you stop for just a moment and consider the effect of a lifetime of seemingly insignificant decisions and how making small delicious choices can change the world.

I believe that we can change the world one bite at a time.

It's a delicious revolution.