ABUNDANCE MARCH

Vegetables have taught me a whole lot about riding this wave we call Life. Now I know that’s an odd statement to make, but bear with me for a moment so I can explain further.

You see I’ve just spent the last 10 years of my life supplying beautiful organic fruit and veg to our local community. As a small business owner I spent time getting to know the people who supported me, as well as being taught many life lessons dealing with an extremely variable product. Fresh produce is laden with nutrients, incredible smells and abundant life force; but it also comes with many blemishes and imperfections. Have you noticed that the happiest, kindest people in this world are the ones that look beyond a blemish? They seem to cruise through life, unwilling to let a little imperfection ruin their day. They have an unwavering ability to see the beauty in all of life, and that transmits out like a wave to everyone they come into contact with. A bruised apple simply means a good excuse to make apple crumble for dessert instead - and boy do we love apple crumble!

Living with such ease makes riding the wave so much easier. Rather than wasting energy on things completely out of our control, there is a wonderful flow to life that comes when we remove the judgements and expectations in our lives. We can simply flow with what comes by and in doing this we beam out positivity that brightens up the lives of all of those we come into contact with. It all comes down to a simple choice. Moment by moment we have the ability to choose how we interpret the world around us. Either we can see the apple or the blemish.

Eating seasonally also allows us to live in the flow of life, filling us with the perfect nutrients we need as we travel through the seasons. Fresh, sweet watery fruits in summer to dense, Vitamin C laden oranges in winter. Allowing nature to guide what we eat, ensures we get the perfect foods right when we need them.

Don’t be deceived by what’s in the supermarkets, rather head to your local produce supplier or farmers markets to see what is growing in your local community at the time. Your body will thank you for it!

In the end, we live in a society that has taught us to expect perfection at every turn. From the perfectly sized, wax covered apples lined up on the supermarket shelf, to the photo-shopped models on every magazine and billboard. It takes effort and perseverance to snap out of the need to expect perfection in our own lives, and not be disappointed when we don’t find it.

We only need to look beyond our modern world, to the natural beauty that surrounds us for a perfect reminder that there is no ‘normal’ in this world. Everything comes in all shapes and sizes and life changes constantly, how we decide to navigate this perfectly imperfect world is up to us.

I hope you choose to see the apple too!

by Michelle Robinson Bach. Counselling. Dip. Clinical Hypnotherapy