Rock gardens, pandas and bonsai: focus on the details to cultivate what matters
To appreciate the end result, you have to focus on the details. The process is more important than the end result.
I’ve always found myself drawn to Japanese culture; the appreciation for detail, the value of stillness and observation, craft. My interests in meditation, fashion, tea, design...all seem to draw me into Japan. One of my favorite books we read with Everly is called Stillwater, it’s about three siblings who befriend their next-door neighbor - Stillwater - a panda who teaches Zen principles. We actually discovered the book series after we came across the TV series made for Apple TV. Ev loves it because pandas are awesome and I could watch it on repeat because it’s just beautifully made.
In one of the episodes, Stillwater is talking with one of the kids about how much he enjoys raking leaves from his garden and pond. Think about how often you grumble or are annoyed about doing the dishes, or laundry, or sweeping the floor. The maintenance is often viewed as a barrier - an annoyance - to getting what you truly want. A clean house, tidy garden, or organized space. The maintenance is the point though. Does the outcome have any meaning without the perspective of what it takes to get there?
We took a trip to the Portland Japanese garden recently and this idea really hit me. The Japanese Garden here is amazing, even in the winter it’s a special place. From the time you walk up to the lower entrance, there’s a noticeable calm. You can feel yourself reset. I like to notice the people around me as well; there’s a certain energy people take on, they carry themselves in a way that says “here I am, going to a Japanese garden.” I realized while we were there a couple of days ago, that it’s the intention created by its maintenance that leads people to carry this energy with them. When you go to a place where every rock and stick has been purposefully placed, you feel a responsibility to be in that space with intention. You can’t help but stop and appreciate the smallest details and in doing so you learn to see how light bounces off a pond or cuts through the manicured branches of a juniper tree. Intention to detail begets intention to detail.
To create the space you want to exist in, you have to love the process of getting there. If you don’t appreciate the details now, the details won't matter to you in the future.
