Secret Garden

Does anyone remember the classic children’s book The Secret Garden? It was written by British author Frances Hodgson Burnett and first published in 1911. I really loved this story about a little orphan girl named Mary. Mary goes to live with her uncle in the English countryside and, with two new friends, she discovers a lost rose garden that magically heals their lives.

The Secret Garden is really about a secret place in each one of us—a place that we can escape to, a place where we can do anything, create anything we want for ourselves. We can make the world come alive, we can create miracles. I, too, had a secret garden that enabled me to deal with my chldhood growing up. I had dissappoinments on occasion when my mother would send me to my room if she felt I disobeyed her.. One day out of the blue I was told that I could not take dancing lessons anymore.; a passion dear to my heart and an event that broke my heart. In those days one dance lesson cost $1 and I was told that same $1 could buy a quart of milk or a loaf of bread instead. Somehow, when things like that happened in my early days, I would go within and get quiet and go upstairs into my space, gaze out the window, and dream. I grew up in a blue collar family. I had a good job after high school and had to support my mother after my father died. Family obigations. I realized at an early age that some kids in my school had nicer clothes then I did. In one particular class, I would always notice the pretty sweaters a girl wore; everyday she wore a different pretty sweater. I knew down deep in my soul that her sweaters were nicer than mine.

I realized later in life that the power of the mind can enable us to be and do and create anything we want for ourselves. My childhood bedroom did just that. It was like magic.

Whatever the divine power is that is moving the checkers of life around, it all fits together. That divine power saw someone who had a great imagination that her life would get better and that she too could have pretty sweaters just like her classmate.

This is how I come to look at my life now, the way all the pieces seem to fit together.

As a life empowerment coach, I am asking you to look at your life like this too. Instead of looking with regret, instead of looking with fear, anger, pain, and sadness, try looking at your life from a perspective that the whole thing is divinely orchestrated. It’s the most amazing shift.