Chompers In The Garden
A BIT OF GRACE
Chompers In The Garden
August 13, 2020
My adventure today involved wandering outside to check on our tomato plants we've been growing this summer. We've been enjoying having fresh tomatoes again and some cucumbers. I was out having a look and noticed some branches getting a bit black on the edges. I thought “Something's going on” and I went to start trimming off a little bit of a few branches on one plant...
My adventure today involved wandering outside to check on our tomato plants we've been growing this summer. We've been enjoying having fresh tomatoes again and some cucumbers. I was out having a look and noticed some branches getting a bit black on the edges. I thought “Something's going on” and I went to start trimming off a little bit of a few branches on one plant. I was working away trimming and no big deal, but then I started to notice a few little tomatoes had been chopped in half and eaten, and got a little more suspicious. As I was going along, I was reaching for another branch and touched underneath. It felt weird, it felt different and felt soft and puffy. So I bent down and looked and there was this big giant, creepy hornworm. Well, if you don't know what heartworms are, and you don't like bugs, this might sound a little icky. Anyway, he was this long thing, they chomp away and devour tomato plants really quickly if they go unnoticed. This guy had been chomping away all night, I think, so a few branches were stripped down and bites out of the tomatoes.
I ran back in the house and got a little container with some soapy water and some tongs to pull them off with. It's amazing if you've ever dealt with these fat green guys that they really chomp, they really hang on.
They just will not let go, like other pests in our lives. I had to pull them off and stick them in the soapy water, and then they were done. I found two of them. I don't know if I'm going to find some more, but hopefully that was it on that plant.
But of course, it got me thinking about life in general, and how we can have pests hanging on in our lives. How some of those pests just like to chomp away at us and take little bites, especially the ones that like to just nibble at us and throw in doubts and fears and worries. Chop away at our confidence and just hold us back enough while they devour more and more.
It sucks to have a pest chewing on you and hanging on you. Yet even our thoughts can be pests and our thoughts can be learned from those before us. Whether it's our parents or our siblings, our friends. Yuck, so many useless thoughts can hang on and glom on. Doubts about whether we're good enough and doubts about whether we'll have a job and doubts about whether we can work or how long we're going to live or blah, blah, blah. They go on and on and fear, oh my goodness, fear is such a powerful one. Fear is like one big giant green hornworm; I think just chewing us up and spitting us out and moving on to the next branch.
A lot of the time, the history behind all of this, can be what was planted when we were kids. Whether it's how we grew up and the roles we played and how our parents treated us, and how they treated other siblings differently, blah, blah, blah, how they were treated.
We are all trained into these stupid patterns of worry and doubt and fear and denial. Then, oh, there are some other juicy ones, too, that can take hold, like expectation. We think, depending on how we were treated, we expect things to continue. "This is the way my life was" and if we've had everything provided for us, having that expectation that it should continue. Or having no expectation and not trusting anyone because you didn't have that support when you were young .
Do you see how I mean, all these things are like big giant bugs, aren't they? They just kind of glue on to you and just keep chewing away. So that's why the big green hornworms got me thinking about people in our lives that chomp away at us and the importance to recognize that. I think the sooner we recognize the damage that's being done, it's key for our growth to move on and get out of that pattern. If we can recognize whose voices are in our heads.
I hear adult people today saying, long after their parents have passed on "Oh, I hear my father or my mother's voice" in their head. They can't believe in their own thoughts. They've got to hang on to their parents’ thoughts. My goodness, how useless is that?
It's time we started to be the adults in the room and take responsibility and recognize "All right, this is a stupid thought, let's move on and get to something more productive". There's a point right there. Instead of letting ourselves be devoured, why not step up and recognize that and say "Enough!" to those people who are harmful to us "Stop it, back off!" Let them go from your life. We don't need everyone in our lives, especially those ones that act like parasites, just chewing away at us. There is no need. It's OK for you to say "Enough!" and establish some boundaries for yourself, so that you can grow and flourish like a healthy plant. I know that tomato plant is going to recover. I got two of these big suckers off of there, and if any more are there, I'm going to get them too!
You just have to take the time and allow yourself to reflect and recognize. Where your pests are, who they are and the memories and all of that stuff that hangs on. If you need some help with that, let me know . Otherwise, take a good look at yourself. It's OK to take responsibility for all the garbage, the thoughts that you allow to flourish that don't do any good for you.
Then recognize your strengths, your abilities, recognize what you bring to the table and what you can put forth. You don't have to listen to those old voices and those old stupid thoughts. You have great thoughts of your own about how you want to live and what you can do best. Go with that. 

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