The Garden
Cultivating the true fortune in the modern world
The Gardeners
To begin, I think it’s natural for me to talk about how I met my fellow Gardeners and how we built our strong connection that includes the quality of being honest, with complete trust.
We met among the Redwoods of Northern California for the Flow Genome Project Coaching Certificate course. As part of a group exercise, eight randomly selected members sat together at the dinner table for the first time.
Instead of the usual introduction which often starts like; “Hi, my name is Takako. I work for abc, doing xyz…,” we were given the topics to talk about over dinner.
We skipped the introduction and took it in turns to talk about these given topics.
On the first night, the topic was Death.
We took a deep dive into our souls, reaching to the core, drawing out personal experiences and sharing our stories.
The following nights , we were given the topics of Religion, Sex and Drugs/Addiction. You can imagine the level of discomfort. It was extremely personal.
One of our eight, Steve Brophy was always the bravest and would dive in first to open up our conversation each night.
Steve brought the level of openness, vulnerability and honesty up to an infinite horizon for us to be able to talk about our very personal stories, completely naked. His bottomless love and clarity made us all brave and fearless as if he had placed a magic spell on us.
Benny Wallington was the visionary and revolutionist who always brought bright insights and a rich observation of life. Benny had many dimensions underpinned by a sensitive soul. He was a man of action who had been experimenting with new ideas through his experiences and was devoted to promoting group coherence to save other souls out there.
Rob Gronbeck was the creative soul who had explosive energy with interesting ideas and topics , often throwing them at us as if he were a molecule in motion. Rob specializes in the cross-section between neuroscience and technology, backed by rigorous data and endless experiments. Rob’s fun character brought up our group vibe and we were always laughing.
Then the gardeners had an honor to invite Leslie Lau through Steve. Leslie is an experienced writer from his soul. He shows us how to articulate the words when he speaks straight from his heart. His words are genuine crystals through his vast personal experiences. It gives us the light of hope no matter what situations we’re in. It was too obvious and didn’t take any time for us to click.
Real Fortune in Life
I feel incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by amazing people in this gig, called The Garden.
Besides dinner conversations, we had various activities that pushed us beyond our comfort zones. Yet as it reveals, it cleared the knots and made the energy flow where it should be, returning to our true selves . The place where it’s right to be to us individually.
This strong relationship was born through the cathartic experiences we shared. This is one of the real fortunes in life I can be proud of.
I’ve spent many years outside my culture. I call mine a Bohemian life.
I feel grateful for people who gave me the open gut honesty for me to learn and follow.
I am thankful for people who gave me the chance to be brave and cultivate real relationships through conversations.
I am fortunate to think I have these relationships deposited all over the world.
Seeding
Now I have landed to this soil called The Garden.
It is a trusted soil where I can be free to express.
It is a happy place for me to play and experiment.
I am excited to plant an idea, a seed of the unknown, observing what comes out.
To water it.
To nurture it.
To leave it.
To watch them grow.
On sunny days.
On rainy days.
On snowy days.
I let the seed grow as is, hoping to learn through the journey of life.
I put a blanket over the newly planted seed.
Feeling grateful for me being here as I am.
With gratitude for me being an apprentice in this given life.
