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Ep.94 Finding Your Center: Plant Lessons on Resilience Amid Chaos | ReConnect with Plant Wisdom
51 Plays21 days ago
Life feels chaotic right now—personally, globally, and in ways that are hard to name. But here’s the thing: Nature doesn’t resist chaos—it thrives in it.
In this episode, I dive into what plants teach us about resilience, rest, and building support systems that help us navigate uncertainty. From the deep-rooted strength of mangroves to the quiet patience of bulbs lying dormant, Nature offers powerful models for staying grounded without forcing progress.
Resilience isn’t just about pushing forward—it’s about knowing when to pause, when to root deeper, and when to adapt to the tides of change. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, this episode is your reminder that Nature has your back—and that even in chaos, there’s a rhythm worth trusting.
🎧 Listen now and find your center amid the uncertainty.
Topics Covered about Nature-Inspired Resilience Strategies
➡️ How to stay grounded even in shifting conditions
➡️ Learning from bulbs that wait for the right conditions
➡️ Why relationships (even the difficult ones) are key to thriving
➡️ How to trust life’s cycles rather than forcing control
Resources Mentioned
🌱 Ep.88 Epagomenal Days & Intentions for the New Year
☝🏽ReConnect with Plant Wisdom podcast Ancient and modern knowledge from biology to spirituality about the wondrous ways plants help you lead a Naturally Conscious life. Subscribe on your favorite podcast player.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Recap
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. It's me, Tigraya Gardinya. How are you doing? So, we are out of the epaglemental days. And if you're not sure what I'm talking about, then go back to episode 88, where I talk about epaglemental days and the intentions for the new year, where I talk about these super special days out of time. These are days that are kind of protected from certain types of energies that can hold back your project. So they're the perfect moment for launching new things. And because of this, January basically felt like a million months all squished together as you were stretching and trying new things and the world is flipping and changing all
Uncertainty and Resilience
00:00:44
Speaker
around. And unfortunately, the overarching theme seems to be uncertainty, both personal as well as global.
00:00:52
Speaker
But not all of that uncertainty is necessarily bad. Some of the uncertainty is because you're trying new things. And that's why resilience seems to be this topic that keeps coming back over and over again. It's kind of at the heart of everything that I'm doing. And let's face it, right now the world feels like anything but stable. So resilience is important. But here's the thing.
00:01:13
Speaker
Nature shows us that even in the midst of all the chaos, there's always a way to stay grounded. you know Plants teach us how to navigate this type of disruption, not just to survive, but to find the peace and even thrive. And I think that that's been a really interesting aspect of this, that even though There is global chaos and there's global destruction. It almost kind of feels like we're not in it alone. We feel, at least for many of my clients as well as myself, it's like that there is a foundation under our feet. There is something for you to kind of step on. And even if the stuff above you is changing, um either by your own making because you're stretching into new areas or either because the world is kind of
00:01:56
Speaker
chaotically falling apart in some places. It does feel like we're going somewhere. It feels like all of this is going to showcase something. I was i was on, um I think, threads or something, and and somebody just wrote the single line, the fail the veils are thinning. and And I agree. I mean, and especially in the pagglemental days, those veils are super thin. And there are lots of moments nowadays where we feel these veils are super thin, where you can see the chaos But the chaos, you also see that the chaos is a necessary step to pull down all of those faces and all of those masks that have been around in order to take us into something really profoundly different. It's that massive paradigm shift. And sometimes you need to drive people to the very edge in order for them to finally
00:02:40
Speaker
Realize that it's time to change and that's that's I feel like where we are right now. So in today's episode I want to take all of these ideas a step even further adding a a personal and probably emotional layer to the conversation about how we find our center when everything around us feels overwhelming.
00:03:01
Speaker
How can we take nature's wisdom and what the plants teach us and use it to feel more connected, to feel more empowered, to feel more grounded in our personal growth? And so this one's going to go deep. So let's just get into it.
Episode Theme: Plant Lessons on Resilience
00:03:17
Speaker
And this is going to be episode 94, Finding Your Center, Plant Lessons on Resilience Amid Chaos.
00:03:27
Speaker
Welcome to Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. I'm your host, Tigria Gardenia, nature-inspired mentor, certified life coach, and the founder of the Naturally Conscious share their practical wisdom to help you consciously embody the
00:03:56
Speaker
Together, we'll explore how ecosystem thinking helps you overcome limiting beliefs, understand the true nature of relationships, and live an authentic, impactful life.
00:04:10
Speaker
okay in this episode i want to hit some major points. So I'm saying this so you can keep me you know accountable. And of course, always add in the chat or in your comments or come into the naturally conscious community anything that you want to talk about this because obviously I want this to be a conversation. So the key ideas that I'm going to talk on today is going to be plants as model for grounding and stability. And so this is really going to be about thriving in chaotic or unstable environments.
00:04:37
Speaker
kind of like looking at mangroves and how they adapt to tidal forces, which honestly is an amazing metaphor for what many of us are experiencing. It's almost like this rush of a tidal force waters that are just trying to push you back and you're just in there swaying through them. And I'm even going to give you a little exercise. I want to start adding more practical steps that you can start doing. And these are things that I take my own clients through. Oftentimes when I'm working with clients,
00:05:05
Speaker
We do a little bit of activities and of exercise and especially in our group calls for all of the different group activities that we do because when I work with people one on one, they're also part of the flourishing sprouts in the naturally conscious community. So we get to work on both one on one stuff as well as group activities.
00:05:23
Speaker
And these really help give us a different perspective to take us out of the sort of human based logic that we follow and to step into something greater. So in this part, I'm going to give you a little bit of an activity that you can it's kind of a kind of a mini meditation that you can do in order
Balancing Resilience and Rest
00:05:39
Speaker
to help you find that grounding. We're also going to talk about the balance between resilience and rest. You know, and we're going to use the example in this case of tulip bulbs and Defidel bulbs and bulbs in general who actively use cycles to avoid any kind of unnecessary struts and only re-emerge when the environment is optimal for survival. Now, mind you, they're not hiding per se. We tend to think that when things are underground, that means that they're hiding. But what we're going to talk about is the fact that what bulbs really do is grow in a protective space, which is underground.
00:06:13
Speaker
and look for as well as create the conditions in order to be able to emerge. So these are really important mirrors for that balancing activity and also for recovery in our own lives and the importance of being able to act as well as rest. And what can we learn from the importance of resting, conserving energy and allowing ourselves to regenerate when facing challenges.
00:06:38
Speaker
The last piece is going to be all around creating personal ecosystems of support. In nature, plants don't thrive in isolation. They rely on overlapping layers of relationships and evolve and change based on the needs of the community. So some might even feel antagonistic or ambivalent in the case of some of the relationships that are being created. Yet these are the ones that can push you out of stagnation or provide much needed space while you process. So don't take for granted or don't try to push away other types of relationships that might not seem like they're supportive or mutually beneficial during chaotic times. Sometimes that push, like some would say we're seeing on certain types of political landscapes, are the ones that are going to get you really moving. And so they're the ones that are going to touch other kinds of
00:07:32
Speaker
um emotions or experiences that get you to act in a different way. So really this is about how do you find nourishment in any direction. In this episode, I'm not going to deny the chaos around us or pretend that it doesn't affect me or my clients or any of us because it's really about learning how to navigate it with the grounded wisdom of plants that they offer us every single day. It's about sharing how my plant partners, for example, have taught me to find peace,
00:08:06
Speaker
Something I have to say, I never expected to be so important in my life. My mother had told me several years ago that at some point she made a conscious choice that she was going to go towards peace, that that's what she wanted in her life. And at first i I looked at it and I was like, that sounds boring.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yeah, I am now learning the value of peace. I can be excited and passionate and thrilled and still have peace. So by the end of this episode, I want you to feel more rooted, calm and centered, no matter what's happening around you. I want you to understand how resilience isn't about powering through and like forcing yourself to do things and getting up every single time you get knocked down.
00:08:50
Speaker
It's about working with the cycles of life. It's about finding your strength and stillness. And it's about letting nature remind you that even in chaos, there's
Mangroves: Grounding and Stability
00:09:00
Speaker
a deeper order at play and that if you find it, you can flow with it. So let's begin by exploring how the plants embody resilience and even in the harshest conditions, even in the harshest conditions, what they can teach us about finding peace within the external world
00:09:20
Speaker
when it really feels overwhelming. I mean, seriously, there's no other word. Sometimes it's just overwhelming. And that's why that piece, piece, it's so important. But before I start, I want to share with you one of our eco-conscious business partners, because these are the organizations, groups, and businesses that are helping me build a better world.
00:09:43
Speaker
For over a decade, I've had the profound joy of working with the music of the plants, a musical instrument made just for plants. This very music is what's marked my own plant reawakening, guiding me to reconnect with nature in an entirely new way. Imagine in listening to the harmonious melodies of your plant companions and feeling their wisdom and presence through the language of music.
00:10:05
Speaker
It's an experience that has transformed my life and the lives of so many other people. If you're curious about the hidden songs of plants and want to connect to your plant friends in a completely new way, I invite you to discover more at tigria.genia.com slash music of the plants.
00:10:23
Speaker
It's in the show notes. Plant music is great for healing, sharing, and personal connection. Let's continue our journey of personal evolution and plant consciousness together with the songs of plants. So let's talk about plants as models for grounding and stability. Let's start with one of my favorite plant families.
00:10:43
Speaker
the mangroves. Seriously, you know that I grew up in Miami, I'm from South Florida, and mangroves are one of my favorite types of plants. They're those plants that I just remember seeing all these tangled and otherworldly type trees along the shoreline. Whether I was going out on the boat on Biscayne Bay or walking along mangrove trails in the Everglades. These plants always feel like a force of nature. They're rooted and resilient, and no matter what the tide brought in, including hurricanes, they always stood there. Kin were ready for anything. And it's not just South Florida, right? Mangroves are essential all over the Caribbean, whether they protect
00:11:29
Speaker
um coastal city communities for example all these coastal areas and they serve as nurseries for marine life so it's kind of like this combination i think of them almost as um uh what's the right word uh i don't want to say nurse there's a word i can't think of the word i'll figure out the word but basically it feels like they're those guardians that are there at a nursery taking care of all of the kids and making sure that by the time the kids come back to their parents, they're nourished and fed and have taken a nap and all those types of good things. And that's probably why they've been called the guardians of the coast. You know, they've earned that right. So what makes mangrove such a perfect model for grounding and stability? First,
00:12:15
Speaker
They grow in one of the most challenging environments you can imagine. Intertidal zones where land meets sea. So this is an ecotone. Now an ecotone is where two separate ecosystems meet. And ecotones are extremely important because ecotones are super alive. There's lots of movement happening. There's lots of change. The species that are coming from one ecosystem don't know if they can survive yet in the other ecosystem, so they come through the ecotone to see whether or not, how they need to adapt and change in order to be in the other one.
00:12:49
Speaker
So ecotones are a place, we often use them when we do biomimicry for social innovation, as an incubator for businesses, as a place for you to experiment with new ideas. The concept of an ecotone is where innovation really happens. These are areas that are constantly shifting. There's high tide and low tide in the case of Of these intertidal zones there's salt water there's also fresh water because again they're moving from one to the other. Lots of storms happen here and mangroves thrive right in the middle of it all and their secret.
00:13:30
Speaker
So if you have to go check out a mangrove. So a mangrove has these iconic what's called prop roots. They look like they're sort of like you have a so ah main trunk or main stem and then these stem-like roots that reach out into the water. Now these roots anchor the tree into the shifting muddy soil. It's kind of a combination of sandy soil type stuff.
00:13:57
Speaker
keeping these plants, these trees that grow in large clusters, oftentimes around an entire coastal area, they keep them stable. And even as the waves and the tides move around, and it doesn't even stop there, mangroves are incredibly adaptable when it comes to dealing with salt. Their roots, remember, their roots are in salty water, right? And so they filter out salt from seawater. Mind you,
00:14:26
Speaker
Normally, if you try to take a plant that's not an underwater plant, which do exist, um which is different from seaweed, which is oftentimes an algae, but um Aquatic plants, of course, deal with saltwater. But if you were to take any of the plants around and start putting saltwater into the plant, please do not do this, that kills the plant. So these are species that instead, when it comes to a mangrove, filter out the salt from the seawater. And some of these species even exrete excrete out that excess salt through their leaves. It's like they've evolved this
00:15:02
Speaker
water purification system. As a matter of fact, I worked on a biomimicry project with this group, fantastic people, who had created an entire water filtration system that was mimicking the way that mangroves work. And so mangroves really have this amazing part of creating fresh water um in the area in which they're in, so helping to move that cycle.
00:15:27
Speaker
And let's talk about oxygen, right? Because believe it or not, their roots also breathe, the roots themselves. Mangroves grow in this waterlogged oxygen-poor soils, right? It's like a sandy soil. It's silty. It's got lots of different aspects to it. So they've developed these above-ground structures. So you'll see that there's some that are deep into the actual soil, and then there's some that are in the water, and then there's some that are above the water, or at least constantly getting wet.
00:15:54
Speaker
And these structures are little snorkels that stick up out of the water to take in air. It's like they figured out how to stay grounded and flexible no matter what's happening around them. And I always think back to growing up near mangroves, especially during hurricane season. those These are the trees that are the first line of defense against the storm surge, right? As the storm water is coming up, mangroves end up intersecting this water, taking the force, bending with them. Kind of like palm trees do it with wind, right? Because the palm trees are, they look like, you know, kin look like these big long stems because really they're more stems.
00:16:37
Speaker
that bend with the wind. And it's the same thing with mangroves. I didn't fully appreciate it as a kid, but now that I see them, i they're this incredible metaphor for me for resilience. They don't fight the water or try to avoid it, right? They're not stiff. They work with the water, adapting to the flow while staying firmly rooted. And in the Caribbean, mangroves play an even bigger role, right?
00:17:00
Speaker
Locals rely on them not just for storm protection but also for food and livelihoods because there's many different kinds of fish and crustaceans that start their lives in the tangled mangroves. All of these roots, because again of this combination of oxygen and air and filtration and being able to be protected from storm surges, lots of little critters then start their lives out there before moving out into open waters because again, ecotones are a place of innovation.
00:17:30
Speaker
a place where things are birthed, where new things are happening. So really, they're more than just trees. They're ecosystems within ecosystems, thriving in the chaos and creating stability for everything around them. So with all that said, what can we learn from mangroves for ourselves? So first of all, of course, they show us how to find stability in the middle of shifting tides. Now,
00:17:55
Speaker
There is always something going on around you and it's inevitable that things are going to shift. So mangroves remind us to root ourselves deeply into what nourishes and sustains us. Remember, I always talk about the most important thing that you need to have is your why.
00:18:12
Speaker
Why? You need to know yourself to understand what motivates you. Why are things important? What are the values that you hold most here? And then from there, you can stay flexible enough above ground, right, in the area of the water towards the air, right, in the emotional to the mental parts to adapt when things change. But if you are not rooted in that super nourishing why and in that super nourishing values,
00:18:45
Speaker
when the hard times come, you're going to get just thrown out of there. Mangroves don't resist the water. They don't try to block their emotions. I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine one day and we were talking about going through difficult times. And she was saying how you know What she tries to do is mentally understand whatever it is that's bothering her and then get out of there as fast as possible.
00:19:06
Speaker
And I'm the complete opposite. I throw myself into whatever it is. I sit inside of it. I let it splash over me and knock me down and then lift me up and I tumble with it. And I just move all around every aspect of whatever it is that is a trauma or an experience, something that is hurting me or something that I don't understand.
00:19:31
Speaker
And I try to experience it with every aspect of my body because I believe that if I flow with it and then I start slowly filtering out the parts that don't serve with it, then even though the environment kind of feels overwhelming, I know it's gonna wash over me eventually. I trust in the idea that over time, I will create fresh water out of all of this salt water that is maybe burning my wounds and is hurting me a little bit but I'm moving and i'm so I don't thrash against it. I try to flow with it. I try to be a part of it. So if you're feeling like the ground beneath you is constantly shifting, maybe the lesson here is for you to root yourself in something deeper.
00:20:15
Speaker
by allowing yourself also then to bend with the flow, to trust in that foundation that you have built for yourself, to trust in the fact that you know that once you go through it, you're going to end up on the other side. And mangroves really do this so well. They don't just survive chaos. They thrive in it. And you can too. So I want to share with you a little mangrove inspired grounding exercise that you can do anywhere.
00:20:44
Speaker
okay so again i'm gonna say it now you can mark the time so that you know exactly when this is gonna happen and you can come back to this episode anytime you like and so here's what i want you to do i want you to sit comfortably with your feet flat on the ground And I want you to just start breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Now, mind you, I'm going to go through this a little bit quickly just because I want to just walk you through it. But when you do this for yourself, take your time, right? Take your time through this. Really breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth and close your eyes. Just close your eyes for a second.
00:21:22
Speaker
Now imagine your feet growing roots, just like a mangroves prop roots. They don't go straight down. They sort of wiggle through the sand beneath you, looking for the best way to hang on to the wet ground. So just feel yourself as your feet slowly grow out these roots.
00:21:43
Speaker
They pierce through water, they go into the sand, and they just wiggle through there to find themselves. Visualize these roots anchoring themselves deep into the earth, spreading wide for stability even in the soft, shifting soil. And with every breath, reach out deeper and farther, exploring and catching hold.
00:22:04
Speaker
Imagine when you are out on the beach and you stick your hands into the wet sand and now multiply that across dozens of roots coming out from below you. Take a deep breath in through your nose and imagine your roots pulling in fresh, nourishing energy from the earth. As you exhale through your mouth, release anything that feels heavy or overwhelming, just like mangroves are filtering out salt,
00:22:31
Speaker
and leaving fresh water. And repeat this for three to five slow, steady breaths. In a type of pranic flow, in, out,
00:22:56
Speaker
Feel this circular, connected energy, you and the mangrove united.
00:23:05
Speaker
Now picture yourself standing in the shallow water. The waves are gently moving around you, all around your anchored roots. You can even stand up if this feels good to you. As the water ebbs and flow, let it represent chaos or the uncertainty in your life.
00:23:25
Speaker
all of those emotions that crash into you on a regular basis. Feel your body start to sway with the movement and literally let your body move. Oftentimes when we do meditation, we think we're supposed to be still. And while this is the case for some, there are some meditations that are much more beautiful when you allow your body to move with it.
00:23:46
Speaker
If it feels right, let your body guide you, that ebb and that flow, that tide coming in and then pulling out and your roots holding you there, not rigidly in place, but allowing you to weave and move and bend.
00:24:05
Speaker
Instead of resisting the constant motion of the water, those emotional parts that are pulling you in every direction, your emotional centers are bending and swaying with the movement with the movement. They're staying strong in some places because they're grounded from below while soft and malleable all above you. The wind rustles through your body, your mental thoughts,
00:24:33
Speaker
also coming and going and moving. That's adding all of this that normally will thrash you and especially in combination with those emotional waters. But now, like the soft, pliable, yet sturdy mangrove, you're moving with it. You're pulling out nourishment from the murky waters while your body easily filters through the elements.
00:24:57
Speaker
Now bring to consciousness how soft and light you feel. This is your mangrove state. One that you can pull up any time that the chaos gets to be too much. Feel the state of groundedness and yet movement, a flow. And when you're ready, open your eyes. You can even take a moment to journal or simply reflect what helps you stay grounded during life's high tides.
00:25:32
Speaker
How can you more consciously filter through what comes to pull out what you need and let the rest float away? What does resilience mean when you are a mangrove? This is the simple practice you can come to whenever you feel unsteady.
Diverse Relationships for Support
00:25:50
Speaker
And like the mangroves, you can root deeply while allowing life's tides to flow all around you.
00:26:01
Speaker
All right, I want you to take this energy that we just experienced, and I want to pull all of that back into the balance between resilience and rest, because I think this is an important piece of the the fact that you are grounded, you're going through it, you're being resilient, but at the same time, there are also moments when you need to rest. And another beautiful example of rest in plants is in bulbs going tor dormant during unfavorable conditions, like extreme heat or drought.
00:26:30
Speaker
So bulb plants like daffodils and tulips, right? and Other what's called geophytes retreat into their underground storage organs. It's a bulb or a rhizome like your ginger or a corn.
00:26:45
Speaker
And they conserve energy and wait for the right time to grow again. So during dormancy, one of the things I love is that they're actively photosynthesizing or growing. um Excuse me. They aren't. I just realized I said that wrong. During dormancy, they aren't actively photosynthesizing or growing above the surface.
00:27:05
Speaker
Instead, they're relying on the nutrients stored in their underground stultures. This means that while they were growing, they were also putting stuff away for a rainy day. It's like a little hidden reservoir of energy until the conditions improve.
00:27:18
Speaker
It's a perfect example of nature saying, pause now so you can thrive later. Now, in order for that to happen, that means that the plant was actively growing out and always putting something away. So this is an important consideration. That rest is not something that you just take randomly. It's something you construct. It's something you build. When we think about resilience, it's easy to picture constant action, pushing forward, staying strong, enduring the storm, all those things that we've been taught as humans that we're supposed to do.
00:27:47
Speaker
But nature teaches us something completely different. Sometimes resilience looks like stillness, like rest. It's a perfect example of how bulbs go dormant. When I first came to Dom and Her, we have something called the game of life. And the game of life is all about change, about movement, about calling you out of your comfort zone and moving you. And at the very beginning, the game of life called me for several dynamics. And I would always say no. And they would look at me and they're like, I don't understand. And they're like, no, you don't realize this.
00:28:16
Speaker
For me at the time, by the time I had moved to Dom and Her, I was used to getting up and going. In other words, I had friends that would call me and I would spend three days at their house or go away for a month even. I knew how to be mobile.
00:28:30
Speaker
I didn't know how to be rooted in place. It was terrifying for me to take ah to make a commitment to something that I had to be there every week. So you've got to try to understand what does rest or resilience look like for you and how do you build yourself up to those.
00:28:46
Speaker
How do you create a life that gives you the flexibility to be able to go, go, go when necessary, to even jump into something different, but also to retreat and create stability for yourself? And of course, in different proportions based on who you are and what it is that for you is most important in life, but still the ability to do everything or at least to to be able to flow with everything is what creates that resistance. so Resilience can look like many different ways. Think about plants like tulips and daffodils or even lilies. These are plants that seem to disappear entirely for part of the year, right? Above ground, there's no sign of life. No leaves, no flowers. They just disappear. They retreat.
00:29:30
Speaker
And it's easy to look at that bare patch of earth and assume nothing's happening, which is the same thing for yourself. I don't go out, or I don't interact with a lot of people, or maybe I'm not producing something, quote unquote, the very famous production piece. But beneath the service surface, these plants are very, very much alive. They're bulbs. Those underground storage organs are holding on to precious energy waiting for the right conditions to grow. Their dormancy is not laziness, it's strategy. So you holding back and being still is not about giving up. It is about being strategic about where you put your energy.
00:30:09
Speaker
bulbs know that trying to grow in harsh conditions like the heat of the summer or the chill of the winter would waste their resources. So instead of forcing that growth at the wrong time, they retreat. They pause. They focus on conserving energy so that when spring arrives, they can bloom in full force. Now remember,
00:30:29
Speaker
Just like the mangrove, they are rooted. They're rooted in the location in which they are. Rooted in the sense that they're in their environment and in this case they're rooted to themselves. They've created a perfect little shell to hold onto them and that is their grounding. So you can pick up that bulb and plant that bulb somewhere else and that bulb holds everything. So in some cases you're going to want to root into the environment around you. In other cases you're going to want to create your entire grounding system within you. It's up to you to be able to flow with what you need first.
00:31:03
Speaker
Now, the idea of retreating to protect or conserve yourself isn't just about plants. It's also a deeply human thing for you to do. I think about how often we push ourselves to stay on all the time, right? We want to meet our deadlines. We want to juggle all these responsibilities. We want to show up for everyone else. But just like the bulb, we need time to recharge. People often ask me, how do I get so much done?
00:31:28
Speaker
To be honest, I think I'm lazy. I, not lazy in a negative way, I spend lots of time by myself. Lots of time recharging my batteries, doing things that just nourish me. Sometimes with friends, you know, I went to do acro yoga the other day. I'm so excited about acro yoga now.
00:31:46
Speaker
or you know doing a beautiful breathwork in the morning by myself, or reading a really luscious book, or just sitting on you know the the balcony with a roaring fire and a blanket in the middle of the cold and staring out between the river and Gary the Silver Fern and the early evening hours.
00:32:05
Speaker
That's in incredibly nourishing for me. It decompresses me from everything. It brings in a form of silence that I didn't experience a lot of because I'm a chatter mouth, as you already know.
00:32:18
Speaker
Without rest, we burn through our reserves and eventually we wither. So here's a tangible example that might hit home for you. I've worked with so many clients who feel stuck because they've been going nonstop for absolute years. They feel like they should be growing, achieving, producing, but inside they're exhausted.
00:32:40
Speaker
When I suggest that they take a break or slow down, their first reaction is usually guilt. They feel like the rest is the opposite of resilience. That rest is failing somehow. Actually, in a recent ah Naturally Conscious Leadership Group mentorship call, one of my clients shared that her dream is to sit on the porch reading a book.
00:33:02
Speaker
And yet, every time she's tried, she's felt so guilty as if someone would judge her for not getting her self-imposed list of to-dos done, right? Like, got to do this, got to do that. It turned into a fantastic conversation where we all helped each other understand that the societal expectations that we take on really are nothing more than self-imposed restrictions meant to keep us busy.
00:33:29
Speaker
but they don't actually produce results. When we look to nature, we see it's the opposite. Rest is essential for resilience. Without pause, the bloom can't happen. Jaina right now on aloe is blooming and it's such a slow, delicate process because it's wintertime and that's when Jaina blooms and taking little, little steps. But in the end, the bloom is beautiful with this vibrant orange color.
00:33:59
Speaker
One of my favorite things about bulbs is how kin trusts the process. A tulip doesn't dig itself up to check if it's ready to grow. They don't go and like, oh, let's see, let's see. Key knows that when the conditions are right, Key has created a feedback mechanism to signal when it is that it's time to emerge.
00:34:22
Speaker
Tulip reminds me to trust my own cycles, to listen to my body, to feel my inner plantness, to the rhythms of nature that are encoded within my own body, and to honor those times when I need to step back, even if it feels counterintuitive, when I need to take a rest in order to allow things, that that thrashing that I was talking about, about being in those emotional waters, to take over and to just emerge.
00:34:52
Speaker
So this is a really important thing for you to think about as you balance between resilience and rest. I want you to ask yourself, are you giving yourself permission to pause, to retreat into dormancy when the conditions aren't right so that you can serve your energy for what it is? Like a bulb, your rest is not an absence of action. It's an investment in your next bloom.
00:35:15
Speaker
And with that, in order for you to comfortably do that, you need to create a personal ecosystem of support. I'm just going to touch on this so quickly because I think that it rounds out the fact that you need to be grounded. You need to give space for movement and rest. But in order for all of this to work,
00:35:36
Speaker
You have to have a personal ecosystem of support around you. In times of need, we often expect all of our relationships to be mutually beneficial. We think that if everybody isn't there to just help me and for me to help them, then it's not working. That every connection should pour as much into us as we pour into them.
00:35:58
Speaker
And this is what we want for ourselves. We we feel like we're taken advantage of if we don't. Or we give everything to the other person and expect none in return, but that's usually because you don't think you deserve it. So that's another episode, and we are going to have more of those episodes too. But just like in nature, diversity is actually what strengthens and sustains us. It's what gives those cues to know when to grow and when to rest. A thriving personal ecosystem isn't made up of entirely perfect, balanced exchanges.
00:36:27
Speaker
Instead, it's a dynamic web of relationships, right? I often talk about the fact that we have lost many of the archetypes for relationships. We think relationships are either family or antagonistic, or we have a very limited definition of what those relationships are. But in reality, there are multitudes of relationships, each one offering something unique. Some may provide direct support,
00:36:51
Speaker
Others may challenge us, test our boundaries, or simply exist alongside us without much interaction, holding space, you might say. A great example of this comes from the idea of a forest understory, right? A small but powerful ecosystem filled with diverse relationships that demonstrate how a healthy system thrives, how the individual gets the support they need from many different types of relationships, not just mutualisms.
00:37:19
Speaker
in this complex and vibrant space, various plants, fungi, insects, animals, microorganisms, they all interact in ways that reflect the intricate balance that of what the relationship that is necessary at that particular moment.
00:37:39
Speaker
That's how you find the personal support system. It's not just in who helps you, but it's also in who pushes you. So let me break it down with a few of kind of like the bigger labeled, you might say, relationships that you should kind of keep an eye on. Mutualisms, of course, are the relationships most of us know about. right The idea of things like trees and mycorrhizal fungi, where the fungi attaches to the roots and they extend down into the network of soil, effectively you know accessing giving access for the tree for water and nutrients like phosphorus in return for the tree, giving sugars and through the photosynthesis. right we've We've heard all of this before. So as symbiosis is, of course, foundational to health in a forest, but also in your own life. right You want to have relationships where you give something that you have an excess of
00:38:28
Speaker
never give what you don't have an excess of, only give what you have an excess of, and you receive on the other side. But not all relationships are give and take. Some, like commensalisms, are just takers. Commensal relationships often appear in a really subtle way, like, for example, mosses growing on tree trunks. The moss benefits from the structure and moisture that the tree provides, but the tree itself is Pretty much oblivion, ambivalent. That's the word I was looking for. Oblivious, ambivalent. I mixed those two words together. This really mirrors the relationship of when someone in your support system may benefit from your guidance or from some resources without it taking anything away from you in return. The occasional call you get from a colleague's child asking you for advice and a problem.
00:39:18
Speaker
it's not inherently bad these relationships can add a whole other layer or texture to your ecosystem so you can ask somebody who it doesn't affect them one way or another for them to give and vice versa you can have somebody who takes from you and you're like meh whatever go into the garage grab that thing i don't need it i don't even know you took it just make sure it's there when i need it That's a commensalism. They give you the opportunity to take without feeling the need to return the favor directly. And in the end, you being a healthy, active member of a community is payment enough for everyone else. So commensalisms are really great relationships to have in your arsenal.
00:39:57
Speaker
Even parasitism and predation have their roles to play. Don't discount them just because they come with some kind of negative, bad vibe, right? Not every relationship in an ecosystem is gentle. Parasitic plants such as, I don't know, mistletoe latch onto trees and branches and they draw out water and nutrients from the host, right? So they're literally sucking out the life of the host. And while this weakens the tree,
00:40:23
Speaker
Mistletoe also provides berries for birds and serves as a shelter for certain kinds of animals. So showing that even this sort of negative relationship between the tree and the mistletoe, which doesn't ever kill the tree unless there's very specific conditions, it just weakens the tree a little, which is good because it keeps the tree in check.
00:40:42
Speaker
can have this broader ecological purpose. So similarly, predatory insects right or animals like, I don't know, ladybugs eating aphids can keep harmful populations in check, right? This is the way we keep a harmony. They maintain a balance in a system. So in your own personal ecosystem, these more challenging dynamics might show up in relationships that put you outside of your comfort zone or force you to establish boundaries in that membrane that fluidly moves back and forth.
00:41:10
Speaker
They push you to be conscious of what is happening. They're not always pleasant, but they play a vital role in shaping your resilience and growth. I often say that in every group dynamic, there is always an asshole. Permit me for saying this. Sometimes I am the asshole, so I take full responsibility for this term. Sorry for the language.
00:41:30
Speaker
But there isn't really a better way to explain it. This is the person that pushes your buttons at every turn. So you have a group and there's always that one antagonistic person who is pushing everything. And even if you try to eliminate that person, you reorg the person out, you ah have the person go into some other group, the person eventually decides that they step away from the project magically without even meaning to.
00:41:56
Speaker
Someone eventually steps in to fill the role, and somebody becomes the new asshole, even somebody who was super sweet before. Because, energetically speaking, it's a necessary role. It's a mirror, a push that gets us somewhere we need to go.
00:42:10
Speaker
So open yourself to this person. I often use the example when I have somebody like that and I say to myself, what is the role that this person is here to play for me? How does this person's antagonistic attitude teach me something about myself? How do I get to the place where I see that person's value, even if they're destroying the things that I'm building?
00:42:34
Speaker
The beauty of a forest understory is that it's a constant flux. Relationships are always shifting. Trees grow smaller and shade out plants that once thrived. Fungi expand their networks to connect with new hosts and even decomposers like earthworms or fungi break down fallen leaves and dead matter, right? There are them those that build. There are those that break down. There are those that share. There are those that communicate. There are all kinds of different members of an ecosystem, all cycling nutrients back into the system in their own way. And this reminds us that our personal ecosystems aren't static either. People come into our lives for specific reasons, relationships change, and we evolve as individuals. Some connections offer deep mutual support,
00:43:20
Speaker
while others may simply provide a stepping stone or challenge us to grow. A personal ecosystem of support mirrors this dynamic forest. You'll have friends, mentors, and colleagues who enrich your life in mutual ways. There's going to be people who are going to benefit from your guidance or resources, and you are going to benefit from the resources and guidance of others. And there's even going to be relationships that are going to challenge or test you or even try to hunt you down.
00:43:47
Speaker
None of these roles are inherently good or bad. They all contribute to the larger web of support that sustains you. And they all, all, all are necessary to sustain the ecosystem at large, which in this case is you. So call on them when the times are rough. A robust ecosystem of relationships is the best way to weather any storm.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
00:44:09
Speaker
So as we wrap up this journey into resilience from mangroves to bulb plants to the natural web of relationships,
00:44:17
Speaker
I want you to think about how these types of plant lessons can offer you insight into how to find your own center, even amid the craziest of chaos. Like the mangroves which re they thrive, they thrive in this like ever-changing tides, we also can find ways to stay rooted even when life feels unpredictable. Grounding ourselves isn't about being immobile. It's not about holding steady, although it can be at times. But it's about anchoring so deeply in what's important, in your whys and in your values, while staying flexible enough to flow with the change.
00:45:00
Speaker
Then there's the balance of resilience and rest, right? Again, I can flow, but I also have to know when to take myself out of that game. When do I go deep inside of myself and rest? Just as tulips and daffodils rest in their bulbs, conserving energy until the conditions are right.
00:45:18
Speaker
We too can learn to pause and regenerate when life gets too overwhelming. Sometimes the most resilient thing we can do is give ourselves permission to rest, to conserve, to step out. And finally, we cannot forget that plants in nature do not thrive and and in isolation.
00:45:37
Speaker
We need a diverse network of relationships to support us, just as an ecosystem includes not only nurturing relationships, but also those that might push us out of stagnation and give a space for reflection. We need to cultivate our own ecosystems of support. They might not always look like what we expect, but that diversity is what keeps us growing. So when life feels chaotic, remember the wisdom of plants. Remember, you are an ecosystem.
00:46:04
Speaker
stay grounded, take time to rest, and build a support system that adapts with you. It's in these rhythms, in the ebbs and flows of life cycles, where we find our strength, where we find our center.
00:46:19
Speaker
Now, putting some of these things into practice is going to take time. You've been conditioned to believe no pain, no gain, or that rest is for the wicked. Horrible, horrible, horrible phrases we should eliminate from our vocabularies. So as you continue to nourish your plant reawakening amid the delicious, unpredictable chaos of life, because seriously, who could have predicted some of the things that are happening right now? Here are a few questions for you to journal on or even ask your plant partner to help you explore.
00:46:49
Speaker
What roots, values, practices, relationships keep you grounded when everything else feels uncertain? Where in your life are you resisting rest? And how might you benefit from going underground to conserve your energy like bulbs do? Who or what is part of your ecosystem of support? How can you welcome a wide range of relationships, ah including a life coach?
00:47:18
Speaker
around you, there's probably a resilient plant that's just waiting to share Key's wisdom with you. So I learned so much from Jane Anzan, the aloe wonder twins that are right in front of me every single day. So spend some time with plants in their environment and reflect on what Key knows. Journal or meditate on how to apply those qualities in your own life.
00:47:37
Speaker
And if you've been feeling a bit uprooted or out of sync lately, you're definitely not alone. We all go through those times, and that's exactly why the naturally conscious community exists. To create a space where we can reconnect with nature's wisdom and support each other in finding our grounding and clarity. I'd love to work with you one-on-one also. Together, we can create a personalized approach that helps you reconnect with your center and start thriving, no matter what life brings your way.
00:48:08
Speaker
So if this episode resonated with you, remember to like, comment, and subscribe. You can also reach out to me. Everything you need is in the show notes. By sharing these ideas, you're helping to grow a community of like-minded individuals who are ready to live in harmony with nature's wisdom. And thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for being a part of this space. We'll continue to navigate these cycles of growth and change together.
00:48:34
Speaker
Nature teaches us to evolve. And when we evolve together, we evolve with resiliency. So that's it for this episode. Remember to resist your urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance. Bye. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Reconnect with Plant Wisdom. To continue these conversations, join us in the Naturally Conscious Community.
00:48:57
Speaker
your premier online ecosystem for plant reawakening and accelerated evolution and co-creation with other kin. Here you'll find expansive discussions, interactive courses, live events, and supportive group programs like the Plant Wisdom Book Club and the Sprouts Writing and Creativity Group.
00:49:14
Speaker
Connect with like-minded individuals collaborating with plants to integrate these insights into life. Intro and Outro Music by Steve Schulie and Poinsettia from the Singing Life of Plants. That's it for me, Tigreia Gardenia, and my plant collaborators. Until next time, remember, resist the urge to hold back your emerging green brilliance. I'm out. Bye!