and saved by the neighbour.
With a father who, as a farmer’s son, chose a career as a teacher at an agricultural college, three uncles and aunts who owned large farms in the United States and the Flevopolder(NL), and a younger cousin who runs the “family farm”, Rob has it in his genes. He talks about it all the time: “And then I’ll drive a little tractor all day long, vroom vroom”. Yes, his inner child is awakening now that retirement is in sight.
Finally, the day arrived: on 25 April, we rented the “tractor”, a kind of four-wheel drive kart that also mows grass and can handle tough undergrowth! Just like on his first day at school, Rob had slept a little restlessly, but when the kart was driven out of the trailer, he couldn’t wait: Like a true farmer, driving back and forth all day long.
We are dealing with 12,000 square metres of grass that is more than two feet high, lots of thorny bushes, hard clay soil and, above all, a slope that would be a black ski slope if it were in the Alps. And so Rob sat firmly in the saddle and made his way through the spring greenery.
There was no time for a leisurely lunch either: we had to hurry as the hardest part, at the top of the slope, still had to be done. And at 4 p.m., Rob came walking down and reported to me that he was going to ask the neighbour to pull the tractor out of the ditch. Oops! That wasn’t part of the plan. Fortunately, Rob was unharmed, but a little shaken. He hadn’t seen that there was a steep drop in the slope under the bushes:
Neighbour Pascal’s tractor wasn’t quite powerful enough to free the blue kart. He went to look for his 85-year-old father-in-law, who still drives over the hills of the Drôme every day. Marcel arrived an hour later with heavy equipment and within five minutes, the problem was solved. That may not be surprising, given his wealth of experience as a large landowner in this region, but it was certainly a very special way to get to know the neighbours.
Then we went downstairs
and captured the moment:
Fortunately, Rob was able to rent the tractor for an extra day: not only to finish the job, but also because he was completely fed up by then.
Many thanks again to Pascal and Marcel!
Finally, I always end with the question: What does this situation teach us, from the perspective that we ourselves are the creators of our lives, our daily activities?
Rob was focused, but he didn’t see the big picture. He strayed from the path and got stuck. What is the symbolism of this situation? After all, our words, thoughts and energy, whether conscious or unconscious, become manifest.
Everything has meaning. Everything has layers. When you are aware of this and delve into it, and above all, delve into yourself (Who am I really?), then (daily) life takes on a new perspective. As long as we ignore the lessons we are presented with every day, the same messages will keep repeating themselves.
Messages that are wrapped up in an event. The challenge is to break this vicious circle.
So: if things aren’t going well, it’s for a reason!
Describe the situation in precise words and let the words sink in. Then ask yourself the self-reflection questions:
1) What is going on?
2) What wishes to happen here?
Dealing with such issues requires focus and open dialogue. This is the foundation, which also requires the necessary attention and care. In short: hard work!
PS: Among other things, this event made Rob realise that he is not only literally, but also figuratively, continuing without seeing clearly what he is doing. This has literally become a turning point: we are going to do things differently from now on 😉. And I don’t just mean garden maintenance.
Last but not least: a lot of tall grass and bushes have been cut. Not only is it physically noticeable that spring cleaning has taken place, but we were both pleasantly surprised by the impact it had on our energy levels. Words such as space, clarity and freedom of movement describe that feeling perfectly. We were already familiar with this phenomenon, but now that there is so much more space, the impact felt exponentially greater in terms of energy. An interesting topic to explore in more depth in the future.