Gardens
by Steyn Viljoen · updated 3mo ago
Gardens
Like the tiger, we dream of the savannah, the rainforest and the mangrove swamp. We want to hunt and fuck and bask in the sun. We want to climb trees and drink from freshwater streams. We want to pursue our true calling and live to our full potential. I believe this desire is in every one of us. And when it’s suppressed long enough, we rebel. Somet
... See morefrom A Call to Rebellion: A New Story About Depression by Jonathan Carson
Steyn Viljoen added 7mo ago
Gardening offers an endless supply of these kinds of "neutralizers for perfectionism," as Lamp'l called them. He confessed to being a perfectionist himself and knows firsthand that "pursuit of perfection is a waste of time—especially in the garden. So don't bother!"
from 10 Mental Health Benefits of Gardening by Psychology Today
Steyn Viljoen added 3mo ago
- When it comes to established environments that serve the needs of as many people as possible, experts agree that public parks are the closest we have to an ideal third place. Parks are preferably welcoming to all members of the community for a variety of activities; they ideally have bathrooms, water fountains, and cooling tree cover; they’re free ... See more
Steyn Viljoen added 4mo ago
- I have been afraid of trees. I have felt the Earth as my enemy. I did not live in the forests. I lived in the concrete city where I could not see the sky or sunset or stars. I moved at the pace of engines and it was faster than my own breath. I became a stranger to myself and to the rhythms of the Earth. I aggrandized my alien identity and wore bla... See more
Steyn Viljoen added 6mo ago
- A garden, much like a home, is a blunt, bare-faced extension of the human beings who control it. If you are the caretaker of a piece of land, that piece of land will inevitably come to embody your behavioral and cultural values, albeit in an abstract sort of a way.
from Garden Anarchy in L.A. - Wonderground
Steyn Viljoen added 5mo ago
- As a writer, I find gardens essential to the creative process; as a physician, I take my patients to gardens whenever possible. All of us have had the experience of wandering through a lush garden or a timeless desert, walking by a river or an ocean, or climbing a mountain and finding ourselves simultaneously calmed and reinvigorated, engaged in mi... See more
Steyn Viljoen added 5mo ago
- A chief gladness of gardening comes from its dual nature, from how it salves our longing for making order out of chaos but also frustrates it. There is elemental satisfaction in the reminder that we can never fully control nature — that, in fact, any sense of control is a childish fantasy, for we ourselves are children of nature, made by the selfsa... See more
Steyn Viljoen added 5mo ago
- We create the garden as a sort of experience generator, capable of infinite expression and meaning.
Steyn Viljoen added 7mo ago
Steyn Viljoen added 8mo ago