Negative Thoughts are the English Ivy of the Mind – Entrenched and Tough to Remove
The past few days I’ve spent a bit of time in my yard, or garden, pulling up English ivy, vinca, good old fashioned weeds and leaves, making space for and planting new lilacs and ferns.
You see, back in 1959 when my house was built, English ivy was considered low maintenance and sophisticated. Not to mention a cheap and easy way to cover a lot of bare ground FAST. The yard was covered in it when my husband and I bought our house in 2018. Ok, more like smothered in it.
I thought English ivy was pretty growing up. Back then, I didn’t know what I know now about English ivy:
It grows like crazy. No heat is too much. No draught is too dry. No wet season or year is too wet. No shade is too much. No sun is too much, either. It seems to like all kinds of soil, even clay. No hill is too steep. No yard is too flat.
Deer won’t touch it.
Mosquitos breed in it. No wonder my yard was full of them.
Herbicides don’t kill it.
It chokes the life out of everything around it, even trees, if it grows unchecked.
The only way to get rid of English ivy permanently is to pull it up by its roots. This is best done while the ground is moist, not wet, a day or two after a good rain. Spring is better because no mosquitos.
This year as I removed more English ivy and vinca, I realized many of my and my client’s thoughts are just like that invasive English ivy – when they grow unchecked, they choke the life out of you. Thoughts like:
I’m not (fill-in-the blank) enough
I’m not lovable or Nobody loves me
I’m not important
I’m not worthy
I’m not acceptable
I’m invisible
I don’t belong
I’m an imposter
I can’t have what I want
Nobody cares about me or what I want or need
Nobody wants to hear what I have to say
Your beautiful mind was doing its job of keeping you safe by planting and accepting these thoughts as the truth about you when you were a small child. These thoughts kept you safe…and they keep you small if you let them grow unchecked.
If weeding the garden of your mind is too much to tackle on your own, I can help.