What Seeds Will You Plant Today?

This lesson comes from one of my favorite children's books – The Carrot Seed, written by Ruth Krauss and illustrated by Crockett Johnson. It's the story of a little boy who plants a carrot seed. His brother, his mother, and his father tell him that the carrot won't grow, but he weeds and waters his garden anyway. Then, sure enough, a carrot comes up eventually!

Here's the question I asked the children in my Zoom mindfulness classes this week. When the boy plants a seed from the package of carrot seeds, what can he expect to grow? Will a tomato grow from a carrot seed? How about a watermelon? Does corn come up? Maybe sunflowers? Of course not, when he plants seeds from a package of carrot seeds, carrots will grow!

Something like that happens with us, too. When we plant seeds of confidence, patience, and kindness, those are the qualities that grow. When we plant seeds of doubt, restlessness, and cruelty, those qualities grow instead.

What seeds will you plant today?