Why life gives you lemons

“When life gives you lemons …” there’s no need to make lemonade.  It’s because you planted lemon seeds.  When I go to the garden centre to choose saplings or seeds I want to plant, I look at the labels, check the growing instructions and make sure we have the right amount of space available.  I don’t just go in blindly and plant random trees or unknown seeds and then simply will them to produce peaches.

Any garden will give you back what you put into it.  Rich, cultivated soil free from weeds and planted with sweet pea sees will 9 times out of 10 give you a bountiful crop of sweet peas.  Plant carrot seeds and you will get carrots. Whatever you plant is returned to you.  Similarly, if you neglect your garden and let it run rampant with weeds, then the weeds will take over and choke everything else that’s coming up through the soil.

So, when our apple tree showers us with ripe apples, I don’t berate it for not giving us oranges.  It’s producing exactly what we planted it to produce.

We start to get ourselves in a bit of a tangle when we start comparing apples with oranges. 

The Universal law of relativity is that everything is neutral.  It’s not personal.  When we apply our own perspectives and perceptions onto things, we give them meaning. 

Every time I look at the moon I’m reminded of this.  The moon reflects the light from the sun.  It doesn’t actively shine on its own, nor does it care which part of it is visible to us on Earth at any time.  It simply reflects and reveals.  We can give it our own meaning, our own interpretation of its various phases.

Let’s go back to the garden.  We are all cultivating our own soil, our own little gardens.  Except the garden in this case is our subconscious mind.  If I want lemons, I plant lemon trees.  This is why when life gives you lemons, it’s because you’ve been planting lemon seeds, cultivating them in your subconscious mind and giving them meaning.  Whether it’s negative self-talk, limiting beliefs, or fear-based thinking, what manifests in our lives is directly linked to the thoughts we’ve cultivated in our subconscious mind. 

This doesn’t mean we should feel blame or guilt.  It’s empowering.  If we can identify the subconscious causes, we can shift our thoughts and beliefs to create new outcomes. It’s not about “why is this happening to me,” but “how is this happening through me?” 

If you’ve got your own lemons at the moment, then be grateful for them.  Sometimes the sour experiences in our lives are catalysts that can shift our thinking so we can uproot the negative weeds that are no longer serving us.  Thank the lemons for reminding you that you’re in charge of choosing your own fruit. 

Spend a few minutes each day visualising the outcomes you desire and feel them as though they’re happening right now.  That way you’re experiencing the positive results not from a place of lack, but from a place of expectancy and gratitude.

Be choosy about your words, your seeds.  Your words shape your thoughts.  Your thoughts shape your feelings.  Your feelings shape your actions, your results.  To change the shape of your actions, your results, to transform them, change the seeds you plant and let your subconscious mind work its magic.