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    I love gardening. My favorite part is planting seeds. It’s satisfying on many levels: I get to play in the dirt, I can design my garden however I like and I enjoy participating in the process of life.
    Seeds are amazing evolutionary developments that enable plants to survive a variety of unfavorable conditions. Seeds contain nutrients as well as an embryo that can grow into a mature plant. The seed coat protects the embryo from drought and injury until growing conditions are favorable. Seeds often have dispersal mechanisms such as feathery projections or hooks that allow them to be carried by the wind or travel distances on animals.
    Although they don’t look significant, seeds have the ability to survive and adapt. And as if by magic, once the soil begins to warm in late spring, seeds germinate and plants begin popping out of the ground just days after being sown. It always seems so miraculous. The predictability of this happening does not lessen the celebration and awe. I feel a sort of parental pride in my part of this creative process, although I recognize that all I do is provide the conditions for the seeds to express their innate intelligence. Without consulting instruction manuals or seeking advice, seeds know what to do. They simply allow their perfect process to unfold.
    What if we did the same? Can we assume that there is wisdom within us to guide our decisions? And if we can, what are the growing conditions that will help us access, realize and express our perfect process? If we accepted that we arrive on the planet with a fully functioning guidance system, one that directs our growth in all circumstances, how would that change our experience of life? Would we worry less and enjoy life more? Would we trust and love ourselves and allow our best qualities to flourish? Free of the burden of doubt, would we be more willing to extend our love and kindness?
    Guidance is part of the human experience. I’m convinced that we’re guided always and in the smallest details. Don’t look for a letter from heaven; guidance usually doesn’t come that way (although it certainly can). Don’t look for a script outlining in detail the rest of your life; spirit doesn’t plan. Guidance comes in many forms and often communicates to us through the magic wand of imagination, and — have no doubt — imagination creates all our experience. Receiving guidance is much easier if we aren’t invested in hearing a certain direction; spirit has no regard for either the future or for our comfort. The voice within whispers and calls to us always, but unless we are attuned to it, we can easily overlook it. Yet, in every situation we are offered wisdom to handle whatever life presents. Wisdom is not so much about putting knowledge within us as it is about allowing our inner knowing to
come forth.
    Like seeds, we know what to do. But we don’t always know that we know. So how can we call forth what we already know?
    German poet and novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
    How do we learn to trust ourselves?
Trust is built on awareness of what is true. When we open our hearts and minds to the unknown and start living by heart, we gain confidence in our ability to respond creatively to unexpected events. And with increased self-trust, we have a greater capacity to connect to the truth of each moment. It’s only in the present moment that we can access the mighty forces of the whole spiritual domain because spirit is in the eternal now.
    Life is a moment-by-moment experience — though we seldom live that way. When we are calm, at rest, and wholly certain of our ability to respond authentically to whatever arises, we access our best selves. Like seeds, we have the resources to express our innate intelligences. Then what’s not to trust?
If tiny seeds contain within themselves all that they need to know to become what they are intended to be, why wouldn’t we?

Jan Waterman is a writer, teacher and learner who is passionate about life and discovering what is true. She hopes that what she writes will open people to considering new thoughts and ideas about their spiritual selves. waterman@frii.com