Moffitt - Garden of bliss: cultivating the inner landscape for self-discovery

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Garden of Bliss: Cultivating the Inner Landscape for Self-Discovery 2013 by Debra Moffitt.

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First e-book edition 2013

E-book ISBN: 9780738734125

Book design by Donna Burch

Cover design by Lisa Novak

Cover image: Birds on branches: iStockphoto.com/Eli Griffith

Cover lettering illustration: Alison Carmichael/Jelly

Interior birds from Art Explosion

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

2143 Wooddale Drive

Woodbury, MN 55125

www.llewellyn.com

Manufactured in the United States of America

For all of the seeking souls

may you find joy in your

secret garden of bliss.

Contents

Awakening

: The Secret Garden: A Gateway to Reviving
the Feminine Spirit and Finding Bliss

Part OneBreaking New Ground

: Finding the Secret Garden

: When a Rose Is More Than a Rose: Learning
the Souls Language .

: Meeting the Inner Gardener

: Breaking New Ground: Tending Inner Life
in the Secret Garden

: Clearing the Ground: Cleaning Up the Junk

: Exposed Earth: Exploring Vulnerability and
Preparing for Change

: Excavating the Garden: Digging Up Gems
and Bones

Part TwoPlanting and Taking Root

: Growing Seeds of Love: Planting
Guiding Values

: Cultivating Purpose and Meaning

: Watering the Garden: Finding the Source

: Planting with Color: Allowing Emotions
to Blossom

: Inviting the Divine Teacher into
the Garden

: Taking Root for Growth: Staying Grounded
on the Journey

Part ThreeTending the Secret Garden

: The Inner Gardeners Allies and Enemies

: Renovating the House in the Garden

: Expanding the Garden: Setting New Boundaries and Entering New Space

: Finding Grace in the Garden of the Spirit:
Making Friends with Silence

: Weeding Some More: Nurturing Body, Mind,
and Soul

: Death and Dark Nights in the Garden:
Reaching Spiritual Maturity

: Embracing Divine Feminine Nature

Part FourHarvesting th e J oy

: Reaping the Harvest: Recognizing the
Divine in All

: Secret Garden Walls Fall

: Coming Home

: When the Secret Garden Becomes
a Garden of Bliss

Awakening

No hurry or worry.
The secret garden will reawaken
and blossom at the right time.
Be prepared to dig.

The garden is a metaphor for life,
and gardening is a symbol of the spiritual path.

larry dossey

Introduction

The Secret Garden:
A Gateway to Reviving the
Feminine Spirit and Finding Bliss

A few years ago I lived on the French Riviera and worked in international business. I lived in a sea-view apartment filled with French antiques, beautiful oriental rugs, and designer furniture. One evening while friends sat with my French husband around the Louis Philippe mahogany table clinking crystal glasses filled with Chteau Margaux, I stood in the kitchen staring out at Venus rising over the sea beyond the luxury yachts. From the outside looking in, my life appeared perfect. I had plenty of things: money, a good job. I met rock stars and millionaires. And none of it mattered.

A deep emptiness gnawed at me. The things that I bought no longer satisfied the hunger in my heart. A sense of despair descended, and it contrasted with the laughter bubbling up from the dining room. If this is all there is, I thought, then I might as well climb up on the windowsill and jump out. Because I dont care. I dont care about having more money. I dont care about more things or more superficial relationships. If this is all that life offers, then Im stepping out.

I calculated how easy it would be to pull a chair next to the windowsill, climb up, and simply allow my body to fall four stories to the street. Then an inner voice broke in, Theres something more. Go find it.

What? I said. The despair brought an opening, a space where the ego-self was on its knees and my soul-Self, that divine spark within, could speak and be heard. Go find it, it said. Instead of wasting a life, I listened and immediately set out to discover what might make life beautiful and meaningful, and set my soul on fire. It started with another kind of leap, a leap of faith. Even though I traveled all over the world on business, I feared flying. I also feared leaving the job that shackled me to a way of life that consumed my spirit. If I can leap out of a plane, then I can leave that job and write, I decided. As a child Id always dreamed of writing. Why not commit to it and begin?!

When I found myself strapped to a French parachuter free-falling from 14,000 feet above St. Tropez, the exhilaration of leaping into a new life ripped through my veins, and a few months after that ritual leap the universe conspired to release me from the corporate job with a golden parachute. With savings and time to explore the inner world, my dreams activated and a series of synchronicities arose that opened doors to the realm of the spirit. In Europe this realm is often mysteriously called the secret garden. Secret gardens thrive within us. Theyre places of the spirit and imagination where we can rediscover peace and grow into who we are. In them our souls communicate with us using the language of symbols. Its the way the soul-Self dances around the mind to show us another path, one that allows mystery and a profound connection with the Divine Feminine.

Garden of Bliss reveals the process of soul growththe way intuition, dreams, and insights expand and guide us when we dare to go inside the secret garden of the soul and get to work. Its a companion to my first book, Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life , which grew out of my journey into the secret garden, and it responds to readers who wanted to know more of the story behind the scenes. Some names and details in this book have been changed at the editors request to respect individual privacy and for the flow of the story, but it essentially reflects my experiences of waking up to the inner life of the spirit.