I gave Wendy a money plant last spring while it was blooming in her favorite purple-pink color. She can’t find it this spring, because money plant is a biennial. It lives for 2 years; then it blooms, sows its seeds, and dies.
This spring, little money plant seedlings are springing up everywhere in my flowerbeds. How often do i hear people say, “Oh, i thought that was a weed.”
This is why i’m a strong believer in naming your weeds as you pull them. If you can’t name it, don’t pull it–yet.
Mental weed recognition is a key factor in our meditation practice. The Buddha gave us a list of 5 main types of weeds–sense desire, ill will, sleepiness & laziness, restlessness & worry, and skeptical doubt. These hindrances, as they are called, block our meditation and crowd out our wholesome qualities.
Name these mental weeds when they appear in meditation, and your mindfulness will bloom.