Welcome to The Compassionate Gardener DD’s sanctuary
This is my space to retreat from the external noise that surrounds us all. Here, I’ll cultivate, plant, and grow…sharing the beauty and peace of life’s blooms. It’s where I return to nurture my soul, and where I invite you to join me, if you wish, in a space built on kindness, reciprocity, and silence.
This sanctuary has fences. Indeed, fences that keep out unnecessary demands, assumptions, and judgments. Trespassers will be composted! Here, I create a space for peace, free from the noise and expectations of the outside world, where I can grow and thrive in my own time and way.
I cultivate this space for myself, a sanctuary where I can grow and evolve. Who knows, it may also draw in those who are on their own path of growth and transformation. Here, we honor stillness as our sanctuary…a peaceful refuge where we can both grow and simply be.
A place to simply be, away from the rush of the world.
In this space, I will share the practices that keep me grounded, returning home to myself…just like tending to a garden. Each year, I grow and nurture, hoping for more blooms to greet me. Fingers crossed that my beloved sunflowers will once again grace my garden this year. Alongside my love for gardening, there will be poetry, there will be beauty that nourish my body and soul.
The compassionate gardener doesn’t just write; she has other ways and resources to always find her way home.
This is a place where I offer snippets of everything that helps me stay alive, safe, and centered from within and without. Together, let’s cultivate a sanctuary of peace, one practice, one bloom at a time.
This poem “Selective Empathy’is not about taking sides in a political conflict. It is about humanity – the profound pain I feel witnessing how selective empathy fractures us, especially when Jewish people worldwide, including Israelis, are targeted simply for protecting their lives and communities.
My call is for honest compassion for all children of this world, without exception, without erasing anyone’s truth. This is a plea to see the whole human story and to stand firmly against hatred and erasure in any form.
REMEMBER: We have all been someone’s child. And that child still lives within each of us. Protect that. Honour that. See that – in everyone.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.” ~ Elie Wiesel
“Hearts grow hard and weary. Pain spreads, and joy diminishes. Those who hated you hate you still, but those who loved you, or would have loved you, or wanted to love you but never had the chance, are being scraped hollow by a loss they don’t understand. Come home. Please come home. We are withering without you.” ― Bruce Coville, Dark Whispers
“We try to be like others. But that leads to our becoming over-aroused and distressed. Our trait of sensitivity means we will also be cautious, inward, needing extra time alone. Because people without the trait (the majority) do not understand that, they see us as timid, shy, weak, or that greatest sin of all, unsociable. Fearing these labels, we try to be like others. But that leads to our becoming over-aroused and distressed. Then that gets us labeled neurotic or crazy, first by others and then by ourselves.” (Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Person)
Begin noticing and being careful about keeping your imagination free of thoughts that you do not wish to materialize. Instead, initiate a practice of filling your creative thoughts to overflow with ideas and wishes that you fully intend to manifest. Honor your imaginings regardless of others seeing them as crazy or impossible. Wayne Dyer
“Be like a tree. Stay grounded. Connect with your roots. Turn over a new leaf. Bend before you break. Enjoy your unique natural beauty. Keep growing.~Joanne Raptis
“How do you ever explain the feelings of anxiety and paralyzing fear? I can’t answer those questions. It’s just a feeling of ‘Am I crazy? Am I too sensitive to be in this world?’ A feeling that the world is just too complicated for me right now, and I don’t feel like I belong here. But it passes, and fortunately today I feel blessed for all the good things in my life.” Winona Ryder
“Each one of us has lived through some devastation, some loneliness, some weather superstorm or spiritual superstorm, when we look at each other we must say, I understand. I understand how you feel because I have been there myself. We must support each other and empathize with each other because each of us is more alike than we are unalike.” — Maya Angelo
“One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go.”- Sheila Murray Bethel
Empathy seems to be seen as a weakness. We condition people to withdraw it to succeed. But really, it needs to be re-seen as a strength again if there is to be any kind of hope in the world.
“We do not need more intellectual power, we need more spiritual power. We do not need more of the things that are seen, we need more of the things that are unseen.” – Calvin Coolidge
“Map Your Own Journey. Go on your own journey. Don’t let others hold you back; don’t hold them back. Don’t judge their journey, and don’t let them judge yours. All persons are free to have the experiences their souls lead them to.” ― Melody Beattie, Journey to the Heart: Daily Meditations on the Path to Freeing Your Soul
I think writing really helps you heal yourself. I think if you write long enough, you will be a healthy person. That is, if you write what you need to write, as opposed to what will make money, or what will make fame.
Coming home seemed to have started the healing process. No longer vivid and garish, the memories seemed to be covered in gossemer, fading behind a curtain of time and forgiveness.
“Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.” ~ Barack Obama
“I am sure everyone has had the experience of reading a book and finding it vibrating with aliveness, with colour and immediacy. And then, perhaps some weeks later, reading it again and finding it flat and empty. Well, the book hasn’t changed: you have.”
I’m not sure what the future holds but I do know that I’m going to be positive and not wake up feeling desperate. As my dad said ‘Nic, it is what it is, it’s not what it should have been, not what it could have been, it is what it is.’
“Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.”
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
As someone empathic, highly sensitive and quite intuitive, my I had to learn How to set boundaries – simply out of Respect for my own Self, and others.
My presence can be apparently too much for some to handle. 🌞 The pain is visible.
Once upon a time…that’s how usually fairy tales tend to begin. And dreams and illusions are made. This is, however, no dream any longer but a dream come true.
There is so much coming up to the surface these days it can truly cause mental health issues when we have no way to cultivate a safe space for ourselves.
“One of the criticisms I’ve faced over the years is that I’m not aggressive enough or assertive enough, or maybe somehow, because I’m empathetic, it means I’m weak. I totally rebel against that. I refuse to believe that you cannot be both compassionate & strong.” Jacinda Ardern
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