Personal Growth | Tomatoes courtesy of Manjith Kainickara
Personal growth isn’t listed in Wikipedia, but personal development is. Here is their definition.
Having a plan or goal oriented toward one of the following aims:
- improving self-awareness
- improving self-knowledge
- building or renewing identity
- developing strengths or talents
- identifying or improving potential
- building employability or human capital
- enhancing lifestyle or the quality of life
- realizing dreams
- fulfilling aspirations
- defining and executing personal development plans
And my plan for personal growth started with tomatoes. When my first child was about 6 months old I took, what I now know is, my first step on the path of personal growth. I was so filled with the awe of my beautiful child, that I wanted to plant a garden. No, I had to plant a garden.
I had all this motherly love overflowing and I needed an additional outlet. What better way than to help something else grow. After all, how hard could it be?
So I bought 6 tomato plants with baby in tow, dug 6 holes in my yard and lovingly planted and watered them. Aaahhhh! Loving joy!
We went out there together, baby and I, every day and loved on those tomato plants. And one day, I noticed the grass was creeping around the stalks of the plants. “Oh that’s why gardeners create a bed before planting.” It only took me 2 hours to dig out all the grass around my plants.
But they were growing so beautifully, so they were worth the effort.
Then one day, I noticed parts of some leaves were missing. Something was eating my beloved tomatoes!. As I peered down into my plants, I saw this caterpillar… with a horn on it’s head. Eeeewww! So I hustled down to the hardware store to find out what to do.
Apparently, they are tomato horn-worms. And since I was gardening organically, the solution was to pick them off by hand. Eeeewww!
We were living on the bay and I suddenly got and idea! I would pluck them off and fling them into the bay! Yay!
But what’s this got to do with personal growth, you ask? I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was renewing my identity as a mom. I was improving my self-awareness, self-knowledge, and developing my talents.
See, personal growth doesn’t have to be this rocky, difficult path. It’s as simple as growing tomatoes.
P.S. The tomatoes were delicious and I now consider myself an incredible gardener.
Improve your awareness
Work on your attitude
Believe in yourself and your potentials
Develop your skills
Set your goals
Begin with the end in mind
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I so don’t have a green thumb. I would have killed them in a heartbeat. What a great way to express yourself with the love of a tomato.
.-= Karla Bond´s last blog ..Aquahydrate- The Super Charged Water =-.
You know, I used to kill plants all the time. But I found a Christmas Cactus potted plant in an apartment I moved into. It had been abandoned for at least 2 months, and it was still living. I said, “This is a plant even I could grow!”
Wonderful story! I found similar benefits when taking care of lhasa apso dogs. That is, during the process of caring for them, I learned a great deal in myself.
Isn’t it amazing that by going outside yourself, you discover inside yourself. I think it’s because the ego gets out of the way.
Twitter: ImAHotMom
May 13, 2010 at 11:41 am
I love the fact that you compared self-growth and development with growing a tomato (or any plant for that matter). After all, it’s all about nurturing and loving that makes it grow. Your post(s) helps me remember simple things about life that are often forgotten or ignored but are essential in reconnecting with what matters most.
.-= Young And Fabulous´s last blog ..Get Featured As My Hot Mom Of The Week =-.
And sometimes I think people get caught up in the process of self-improvement. It doesn’t have to be a this big thing. Simply focusing on something outside yourself helps you grow!
Twitter: erenmckay
May 14, 2010 at 3:35 am
It’s the small simple steps and light bulb moments that make a huge difference in our growth.
It’s sad that people let time go by and remain the same. There are however those that take advantage of the little things to develop inward beauty. They get better (not bitter) wit the difficulties that come their way.
Using the tomatoes was a great metaphor.
Blessings,
Eren
.-= Eren Mckay´s last blog ..11 Free Social Media Icon Sets for Websites or Blogs =-.
It is sad that people don’t aspire to become their best selves. I think it was Dr. Wayne Dyer who said, “We are all born geniuses. And the process of life de-geniuses us.” So it’s our job to re-discover our genius!
Twitter: erenmckay
May 14, 2010 at 12:30 pm
Very Well put Debbie – love it ♥
Lovely story, I enjoyed reading this post. There are so many ingredients to nurturing the human like nurturing our gardens. Great analogy! I love learning through stories. I feel like it really sticks into our minds.
Donna Merrill
You know, I think each of us has unique experiences that can bring richness to other people’s lives. Remember in school when you wanted to be like everyone else? But the golden nuggets of you, reside in you uniqueness. But there is a sense of beauty in the stories others tell. I think it reminds of our inner beauty.
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