There is a story about a farmer who worried about her young rice.
Every morning she walked the field and every morning the shoots looked just the same.
So one morning she went along each row and gave every shoot a gentle tug upwards to help it on its way.
She came home worn out and told her family.
I help the rice to grow today.
Her daughter ran out to the field and found every shoot wilting in the sun.
The nurturer in us knows this farmer well.
Part of you that notices who is cold,
Who hasn't eaten,
Who needs a kind word.
And it's one of the most beautiful parts of being human.
When it grows tired or afraid.
That's when it can start to pull at the shoots.
Is there anywhere that you are pulling at the moment?
Now gently move your attention down into the belly,
The soft center of the body.
And in the language of the elements,
This is connected to the earth.
The mother who gives freely and still keeps the rhythm of the season.
She holds the seed in the dark and trusts it.
And lets the rain and sun do their part.
So breathe down now into that steadiness and ask.
Who tends to me?
Is it a person?
Is it yourself?
Is it the ground beneath you?
Allow yourself to be one of the shoots for a moment,
Watered and warmed.
Your care is the soil and the patient life.
These archetypes of the nurturer and the caregiver.
Or the mother.
Reflect attending that is required.
For others and for the self.
When these qualities within one are balanced.
This reflects the harmony of Earth's design.
Like the Earth.
You let things come.
You give them space.
And provide support without demanding rewards.
The nurturer does not lead,
It does not need to lead.
Since it empowers others to do so.
And in doing that.
.
.
It becomes indispensable.
Wisdom on this archetypal nature from the I Ching.
Through hexagram number two says,
Success comes to those who are devoted and correct.
Devotion here is wholeheartedness and correctness is alignment with truth.
Because of that devotion.
The nurturer endures what others cannot.
She does not shatter under pressure.
She adapts.
Absorbs.
And renews.
