This post contains affiliate link(s) at no extra cost to you. Please read my full disclosure policy for more details.
A few days ago Wade and I read this wonderfully written and gorgeously illustrated book, The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown.
I instantly snagged it off the library shelf when I saw the cover – it’s a little red-headed boy reading a book atop a Go Dog Go-style tree, flanked by flowers and blue sky.
Inside the book are a few pictures that show the boy, Liam, singing to his seedlings, which grow bigger and bigger until the city that was barren with vegetation is now teeming with it.
I couldn’t help but think back to the times when I’ve seen Wade whisper to our plants around the house and in our garden tower.
My heart would squeal with cuteness hearing him say “You’re the best plant ever,” and “I love you,” and such.
Because my husband and I have talked about the power of words on plants before with him.
The other day we were talking about the experiments that claim talking nicely to plants helps them grow, whereas being mean to them guts their spirit. And they wilt and die.
We are like plants.
Good words fuel us and bad words poison us.
Too bad we’re really, really good at ruminating on the bad ones in our heads, especially the mean ones we tell ourselves.
Like, about our own misguided beliefs about ourselves (you suck, why do you try that when you fail every time?!).
Here’s why I think you should talk to yourself like you’re talking to a plant.
Why you should talk to yourself like you’re talking to a plant
Plants teach us about life and the power of words.
Words we say to our kids and the words we tell ourselves.
You average about 6,000 thoughts a day, after all!
Sometimes you may have even up to 60 or 70,000.
You are ALWAYS in your head.
So if you tend to talk to yourself like you’re the town idiot, you’re not doing yourself any favors.
You need to talk to yourself like you’re talking to a plant.
Plants respond to the sound vibrations when we speak, and prefer low levels of vibration between 115-250 hertz.
They even prefer a woman’s voice (a woman generally speaks between 165-255Hz)!
Though some articles and elementary school experiments claim compliments grow healthier plants than plants who’ve been fed insults, no scientific evidence backs up this claim.
Still, we can apply this concept to ourselves, where words truly do have an effect on us.
Negative self-talk plants seeds for self-doubt, poor self-esteem, and sap-stuck mental health.
Ever talk yourself into a piss-poor mood?
Yeah, because you should’ve stopped the replay of that event after the first one.
Or the second.
Essentially, leave your poor self alone!
Create your own trellis
You see, humans are really, really good at self-sabotaging.
And we have a hard time stopping the habit.
Though it doesn’t have to be a habit for you to talk negatively about yourself.
But for parents and parents living with Fibromyalgia, the flow of talking bad about yourself in your own head comes so much faster.
And with more ease.
Think of the last negative thought you had of yourself.
Mine is that I yelled at my kid when we were outside moments ago.
It’s so flipping hot here in Florida, and yet this kid doesn’t care to play in the water 60% of the time.
And so I got mad at myself for yelling and comparing him to other kids – why why WHY can you not control yourself?
I apologized to him after we got back inside – it took me 5 minutes or so to calm down and recoup – and I realized I needed to apologize to myself.
You lost your cool. It happens. You try to not let it happen. I see you.
It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay.
So forgive yourself.
And then use that experience as a mental trellis.
You know – those things that plants like to climb up.
Root yourself in inner growth.
Reach for brighter days (though you must experience thunderstorms along the way – brace yourself).
And bask in the sweet sun when the storms clear.
Pretty soon, all those pesky bugs – the self sabotage thoughts – will be easier to shake off.
Related:
Your takeaway
It’s too easy to be too hard on yourself.
With so many thoughts you are bound to fall trap to some of the negative ones.
When you catch yourself doing this, remember to talk to yourself like you’re talking to a lovely plant.
I’ve found this gets easier with practice.
So practice, practice, practice.
Now let’s turn it over to you.
How easy is it for you to get stuck in your head?
How difficult is it to get out?
Drop a comment below.
