My venerable teacher the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh says, “No mud. No lotus. Lotus won’t grow on marble. Only in mud.” And that’s the lesson of life garbage becoming compost. Compost has potential as long as we look at it that way and not a trash heap of metaphorical egg shells, orange peels and coffee grounds. We can transform the garbage of our lives into something beautiful. I know. I’ve been there. I’m still at it.

How do we embrace the garbage?

The rose is on its way to being garbage

But garbage is on its way to being rose

If one sees clearly one can see the garbage in the rose

And the rose in the garbage

Garbage (or compost) gives life to rose

And life gives way to death

If the gardener can see the rose from garbage she won’t run from it

And will let go of her fear of garbage and death

Photo by Vivek Doshi on Unsplash

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