For a few years Rochelle and I got into vegetable gardening. So much so we even had a local contractor build us some of those raised garden beds in our backyard. If you’ve ever gardened you know how rewarding it is to plant, cultivate, and harvest your own crop. There’s something special about seeing the entire process unfold. As fun as it was to have our own garden today I find a lot more joy buying veggies at the local farmers market than growing our own.
During the years we planted our own garden, we had a little ritual. Rochelle bought a small container with twelve dividers, like a miniature tackle box, to organize our seeds. Every spring we’d sit down, plan the garden, and fill each section; tomatoes, peppers, herbs. I always made sure one part was reserved for cucumbers, my personal favorite.
That container lived in the junk drawer in our kitchen. One afternoon, while digging for batteries, I found it again. Inside were all the seeds, still waiting. It struck me then that not once had I opened that drawer to find cucumbers growing out of it. The seeds weren’t bad or old. They just weren’t in the right environment to activate their own growth.
A cucumber seed has no brain, no nerves, no teacher, and yet the moment it touches soil, it begins a sequence of responses perfectly tuned to the world around it. There is an intelligence inside of cucumber seeds that lays dormant or inactive until it is placed in the right environment for its potential to be realized. The potential is always there but doesn’t become activated without the right conditions. Inside that tiny seed is a map. Not a conscious one, but a coded memory of a relationship with its environment.
I’ve come to know that as people we are the same. There are ideal environments that allow the intelligence of our potential to activate and grow. But most of us totally underestimate the impact our environment possesses over our behavior and potential for growth. It wasn’t until I read Marshal Goldsmith’s book Triggers that I was finally made aware of the potency our surroundings have on us.
“If we do not create and control our environment, our environment creates and controls us.” Marshal Goldsmith
If you pay attention you’ll start to notice how your behavior shifts with the environment. You’re probably different at work than you are with your family. You probably use different language around your friends than you do your clients. You’re probably more reserved in the nicest restaurant in town versus sitting in a Taco Bell. Environment plays a massive role in our behavior and more importantly our own growth.
Here’s the question. “What is the environment that will allow the seeds of my potential to activate and grow?”
That question is probably going to require some thought. The answer might not be evident right away. I would invite you to sit with it. Just like all matters of the head and heart, the investment of time and energy answering that question will be worth it. You might just find it to be the missing key that finally unlocks what’s been holding you back.
If the seeds of your potential feel dormant then it’s time to pull them out of the junk drawer of life. An integral part of the path towards self mastery is understanding and engineering the environment that consistently brings out the best in you. Intentionally plant your seeds of potential in the environment that will activate the intelligence that is waiting inside of you. The world is ready and we can’t wait to see what happens when you finally bloom.
live freed
Jordan
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