As described in Hidden Treasures, the seventh law is the Law of Gender/Gestation. In a nutshell, it states that every seed in nature has a specific and finite gestation period before it reaches maturity.
Our dream-seeds also have a finite gestation period, and must be held with belief, and nourished until they have sprouted and reached full maturity. Just because a farmer sees a green tomato, that doesn’t mean his red-tomato-dream is a failure. The process just simply isn’t complete yet.
So when your goal or dream doesn’t appear to be all that you hoped it would be, don’t yank it from it’s place in your mind; keep nourishing it. The process just simply isn’t complete. It takes time for the necessary connections to occur. There are a lot of elements that must gather through natural processes before the dream can go from seed, to fruit-bearing tree.
Well, one thing that occupied most of my free-thought time a few years ago was gardening. I had never slowed down long enough to tackle such a feat, but for some reason this was my newest consuming passion: to plant and see seeds grow and turn into vegetables, and to let my children join me in this learning process. Hoping perhaps that when the peas, beans, lettuce, broccoli and so forth began to show up, the children would be all the more excited to ingest them. 🙂
Since we didn’t really want to pull out our rock landscaping, and since I didn’t relish the thought of keeping our basset hound out of the garden, we decided to put it on our balcony in boxes using the “Square Foot Gardening” method.
Now, I have a history of letting even philodendrons die, so when I found Mel Bartholemew’s book and began to read, I gained some confidence and thought I’d better take action in a hurry before the feeling of “I can” turned into, “what were you thinking?”
Tip: Never let an “I feel like I can” moment go by without taking action!
That day’s task was to pick up the Vermiculite from the nursery and begin assembling the lumber. For a moment, I began to lose that “I can” feeling so I went to Trevan’s office to talk it through. I began to explain why I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. It all seemed so simple the day before, but that day I was looking at the charts in the back of the book and went into “information overload”.
There was a chart that showed when I should plant each type of seed, and whether it should be planted as a seed or as an already-sprouted plant. Another chart offered a planting schedule for continuous harvest crops.
But the charts that made my head spin the most were the charts that outlined in detail how well a seed would do in different temperatures.
I explained this to Trevan looking for a little sympathy, essentially communicating: “See honey, do you see how hard this is??”
But when I mentioned the germination charts his eyes lit up, and he said, “You mean to tell me that the germination time for each seed can shorten at higher temperatures?! I mean, I thought so, but I have never known of this to be the case with real-life physical seeds in nature!”
It was at that moment that I knew there would be no sympathy for me at this moment, for he was actually grateful for my troubles, because without them, he would not have just discovered an amazing truth about dream-seeds, too.
Sigh. Okay then. Time to pull myself together and also glean some benefit from this challenge. So I considered his epiphany and had to agree with him.
See, if a principle is true, it will be true at all levels, and in all circumstances: micro as well as macro. We have already seen the parallels between seeds in nature planted in the earth, and dream-seeds planted in the mind.
In this case, we learn that the gestation period for our dream-seeds (though finite and determined by law), can actually be shortened depending on the intensity of energy we bring to it.
According to the chart, a spinach seed, for example, will take 63 days to sprout at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but only 6 days at 86 degrees. More energy shortens the length of germination.
WARNING:
While it is true that the seed can sprout in only 6 days at a high temperature, only 32% of the seeds will sprout at that temperature. If allowed to germinate over 63 days at 32 degrees, 83% of the seeds will sprout.
The best production actually occurs somewhere in the middle. At 41 degrees, the spinach crop yields the most at 96% and takes 23 days.
What this meant to Trevan and I was that yes, our dreams will manifest in a certain and finite length of time, which can be sped up with more intensity of purpose… but too much too fast can also kill the majority of the potential yield.
Now, an onion is an interesting breed: at 34 degrees, it can take 136 days to germinate, and 90% of the seeds will sprout.
At 77 degrees, it can take only 4 days to germinate, and 97% will sprout. Raise the temperature to 95 degrees, and the time increases again, this time up to 13 days, but only 73% of the seeds will sprout.
Spinach:
- 63 days at 32 degrees for 83%
- 23 days at 41 degrees for 96%
- 6 days at 86 degrees for 32%
Onions:
- 136 days at 34 degrees for 90%
- 4 days at 77 degrees for 97%
- 13 days at 95 degrees for 73%
So how in the world can we know how much intensity we should be giving our dream-seeds? And how long do we have to wait for them to mature?
Too little intensity and the seedlings can die; too much, and again, they can die. Sometimes the seeds need attention, sometimes they need to be left alone. Do the wrong thing at the wrong time and you can kill the dream seed as easily as you can kill a vegetable seed.
With so many factors at play, the only thing you can do is relax, and let the seed grow.
Be passionate about it, and it is nourished. Force it to grow too soon, and you can break it. Be passionate and patient, all at the same time. Act on it when that little something inside of you nudges you to act. Seeds continue to grow without constant attention. In fact, they can even stand a little neglect if you return to them soon enough.
No, you might not know what the seed needs, but the Creator of all things knows His creation perfectly and will show you how to care for the seeds you’ve been given… even those dream seeds.
He’s a Master Gardener and you don’t have to be the one to know everything. It’s a delicate process which will certainly become clear to you as you go along, one step into the darkness at a time, which gratefully and mercifully becomes illuminated as you go. Originally published Aug 12, 2008
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4 Responses
Thank you Leslie for this perspective. It’s amazing how whatever I read from your post explains what I’m facing or going through at that particular time. I have been working on attracting paying clients for my life coaching business. I have been going through ups and downs, but your work explains where I’m at, shows me what to do to navigate this curve. Grateful for your in depth but simple explanations of mind and matter. Thank you and many blessings.
Leslie,
I agree with tiffany and mamademuchos – this blog posting was the perfect bit of encouragement that I needed today. You see, today is my 39th birthday and I’m not sure how I’m feeling about it because almost none of my “dream-seeds” have sprouted yet. Of course, I only just started “gardening”, though. 🙂
This post reminds me of a, perhaps, relatively-obscure portion of our “Jackrabbit Factor” book where one of the interestingly-named rabbit-owners mentions that it would be nice to have a book or list that contained the gestation times for all of the “dream-seeds” that we might sow.
I know; I’m not exactly making a point here… just humble musings sparked by your writings, Leslie. Thank you and God bless.
Leslie,
Thank you so much for sharing this. It is exactly what I needed right now. I wish you success with your gardening endeavor.
-Daneece
What a profound way of teaching the law of gender/gestation. The seed sprouting gives such perspective. It was just what I needed to hear, as I am still waiting for my cookbook “seed” to sprout.
Thank you again for everything.
Love,
Tiffany Perez