“Might I,” quavered Mary, “might I have a bit of earth?” “Earth!” he repeated. “What do you mean?” “To plant seeds in — to make things grow — to see them come alive.” — Frances H. Burnett, The Secret Garden

There's just something about seeing things grow, about seeing them sprout up from seemingly nowhere at all -- it's as close to magic as love is. Pretty close to it, anyway.

I wanted to share these quotes about planting seeds with you today, not because it's the season for it, but because it's *always* the season to sow a little good karma.

You plant seeds every single day, in the world and in others, with every thought you think and word you speak and action you take. You have influence. You're making a dent in the universe and you matter, in a very real way.

These quotes talk about taking personal responsibility for what we do and say. And I think that's something worth talking about.

Just like a garden needs its rain and sunlight and weeding, your relationships need to be tended... by YOU. The things you want to change and improve need commitment... from YOU.

*You* need a certain level of self-awareness to understand your own impact on the world around you. To realize you have power over how you experience your experiences. And to see that you hold the seeds of all sorts of healing in your own hands.

So, here's to the curiosity that keeps wonder alive.

Here's to taking it one day at a time.

Here's to growing more patient in seasons of waiting, and more resilient because of all we've been through.

Here’s to all the things we’d like to watch grow more beautiful this year. And here's to being part of the making of that beauty.

21 Quotes about Planting Seeds for a New Beginning

Sow What You Want to Reap

1. “Every leaf that grows will tell you: what you sow will bear fruit, so if you have any sense my friend, don’t plant anything but Love.” — Rumi
2. “The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our disposition, and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other with us in our minds wherever we go.” — Martha Washington
3. “Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. The harvest can either be flowers or weeds.” — William Wordsworth
4. “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
5. “Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant — a seed — this plants the giant miracle.” — Ann Voskamp

Tend Your Relationships

1. “The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another’s, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises.” — Leo Buscaglia
2. “You never quite know what you do in life that leaves a seed behind that grows into an oak tree.” — Michael Portillo
3. “An ordinary favor we do for someone or any compassionate reaching out may seem to be going nowhere at first, but may be planting a seed we can't see right now. Sometimes we need to just do the best we can and then trust in an unfolding we can't design or ordain.” — Sharon Salzberg
4. “We can’t change people, but we can plant seeds that may one day bloom in them.” — Mary Davis

Cultivate Resilience in the Hard Seasons

1. “The tiny seed knew that in order to grow it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered in darkness, and struggle to reach the light.” — Sandra Kring
2. “For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.” — Cynthia Occelli
3. “Life does not accommodate you; it shatters you. Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition.” — Florida Scott-Maxwell
4. “The seeds of resilience are planted in the way we process the negative events in our lives.” — Sheryl Sandberg
5. “When your heart is broken, you plant seeds in the cracks and pray for rain.” — Andrea Gibson
6. “Love is the seed of all hope. It is the enticement to trust, to risk, to try, to go on.” — Gloria Gaither

Have Faith in the Process

1. “To see things in the seed, that is genius.” — Lao Tzu
2. “A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.” — John Ciardi
3. “Keep planting new seeds until your mind becomes the earth that gives birth to new worlds.” — Curtis Tyrone Jones
4. “Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.” — Hamilton, the Musical
5. “Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” — Henry David Thoreau
6. “A seed knows how to wait… a seed is alive while it waits.” — Hope Jahren

. . .

Tell me:

Which of these quotes is your favorite right now?

Tell me in the comments. I read every single one, and I’d love to know!

~ Jen

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