“As the years go by we view our familiar surroundings with less and less freshness of perception. We no longer look with a wakeful, perceiving eye at the faces of people we see every day, nor at any other features of our everyday world.”

John W. Gardner, Self-Renewal; The Individual and the Innovative Society

Spring seems an appropriate time to consider the notion of renewal. The emergence of delicate and determined leaves is one of my favourite punctuation points of the year.  Both a seeming miracle and an ordinary event,  it marks the passing of another year of life.

Renewal within the garden is a robust process that occurs without much conscious attention, but what does it take to renew your own perception? (more…)