How do you tend your garden

I enjoy gardening. I love to see my flowers bloom and give off their beautiful aroma. That is what I love about gardening. And plus, it gives me time to nurture and tend to my needs of with nature. One of my issues with gardening is that the weeds creep up when I'm not watching. How can they just pop up so fast? I realize that if I don't look after my garden on a regular basis, these pesky little weeds just come in and invade my garden. It's a constant struggle to keep up with getting rid of the weeds. It takes time and energy to create a beautiful garden.

So you might be wondering, what does this have to do with relationships? As I take out the weeds, I realize that relationships also need to be looked after with love and attention. If we don't find the time to nurture and grow our relationship, they too will get taken over by those pesky weeds. These weeds can come in the form of work, alcohol, drugs, other people, etc.

Ok so what do I do to take care of my relationship? Start small. Just like when you first plant flowers, start with the easier ones, those that require just enough care to still grow well. In a relationship, that could be eating a meal together once a week, or playing a game together or watching a movie. Start with something that everyone is comfortable with and that is fun. When our kids were in their teens, having family dinners was getting boring for them. So occasionally, we would go to an affordable family restaurant. They loved the idea of going out together. The bonus for us was that we got to have great discussions because the environment was different from home.

Next, make it a habit. I water my flowers at the same time of day about twice a week (depending on the weather of course). This makes it easier for me to remember to do this when I plan my week’s activities. It’s now a habit. Do the same thing with your relationship. Create a new habit of doing something every week. Choose a day that will work out and put it in your planner or calendar. Make sure everyone is aware of this.

Put color and fun in your activities. I love bright colors and lots of variety. It keeps me motivated and excited about going into my garden and seeing what is coming up. Do the same for your activities. Be creative and most of all have fun. Why not go to the park and have that picnic? Try something new and adventures like indoor rock-climbing or canoing. We have tried so many different things in our family and have discovered a lot about each other and ourselves. Just like when I plant a new species of flower, I get to know if the area I chose works and how to take care of it in a different way.

So I invite you to tend to your garden and see the many blossoms that you can create. The more flowers you have, the less place for weeds to come up. If you would like to know more about how to create a great relationship, I invite you to try a complimentary coaching session at http://www.coachingsteps.com/ to help you create to goal that will inspire and move you towards the life that you really want.

Happy Gardening!