Imagine a garden left unattended for years.
Some plants flourish. Others disappear. Weeds establish themselves, and familiar pathways gradually become overgrown.
None of this necessarily happens through deliberate choice.
The garden simply continues to grow.
I sometimes wonder whether aspects of our inner lives develop in much the same way.
Our habits, assumptions and reactions can become so familiar that we rarely notice them.
We respond to certain situations as we've always responded. We follow patterns without remembering when they first began.
And then, occasionally, something catches our attention.
A familiar reaction. A recurring thought. A feeling we've experienced countless times before.
For a moment, we become aware of something that may have been growing quietly for years.
Perhaps observation is a little like walking through that garden for the first time in a long while.
Not necessarily to pull everything out or decide what should remain.
Simply to see what's there.