Months ago, I took a wellness class through my employer. In that class, we did an interesting exercise that still resonates strongly with me. We were all asked to imagine what our dream garden would look like. We wrote down some notes, and then compared what we had written.
I have been thinking about converting this exercise into an art piece, to frame and have in my art room. So this past weekend, on a wintery day, I decided to pick up some of my favourite art tools (pen and watercolour pencils) and put it together. It was very calming for me to forget about Covid-19 for a little while, and dream about a summer garden.
My dream garden is sunny, with a gazebo filled with a sofa, and some comfy chairs. The gazebo is a lovely place to draw knit, and have tea parties with my granddaughters. My husband and I can sit there and enjoy our morning coffee, rain or shine. Do you see the coffee cup?
My garden has music playing so that the grandbabies and their parents can always dance in the grass.
My garden is also full of flowers, favourites that invoke wonderful memories. There are marigolds and lilacs, like my mom had when I was growing up. She said that the marigolds always reminded her of her grandmother on the farm. There would be pink roses for me and although I did not draw it, there would be a lavender plant that I could take cuttings from. The scent of lavender is my favourite, it reminds me of my Grandma Vincent's perfume. There would be lots of lilies for my husband, they are his favourite to grow. Last but not least, there would be gladiolas like my Grandma Dubitz always grew in her garden. Sometimes after Sunday dinners when I was a child, she would cut some of them from her flower beds for me, and I would get to take them home and put them in a vase in my bedroom.
So what was this exercise really about? It was about identifying our CORE VALUES.
We had just finished going through a list of values, and identifying which values most closely represented what was important to us.
While some people chose adventure, entrepreneurship, mastery, and environment, among many other things, my list was the following:
Family
Creativity
Relationships
Tradition
Nurture
Love
Kindness
For everyone in the class, it seemed that their dream garden really illustrated a lot of the core values that they had chosen. For example, I realized that all my flowers in the garden were about childhood memories, and relationships. I guess you could say my roots run deep! (Excuse the pun.)
My garden would be a place where I could be creative, and nurture my family, with love and kindness.
What does your garden look like? I would love you to share it with me!
.png)
