“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” This quote is by Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish novelist and poet who lived in the nineteenth century. Two of his best known novels are Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Treasure Island.
Very often the quotes I choose to write about serve as helpful reminders to me. This quote is a reminder that the seemingly small things we do each day do matter; they have an effect on people. And remembering that helps me to remain hopeful. Sometimes thinking about the things that are wrong in our world can cause us to feel discouraged, making it difficult for us to believe things can improve. We want so much to see clearly visible positive change. And when we don’t, it’s easy to fall into the trap of losing hope. But when we remember that small, incremental change has led to and continues to lead to positive results, we are able to stay hopeful. The small, incremental changes are seeds that were planted by people through their actions and words.
Through our words and actions, through the choices we make and the way that we live, we “plant seeds” every day. We plant the seeds of positive change by treating others with respect and compassion, by being fully present with and listening to others, and by expressing appreciation and gratitude. By reading to children, we plant the seeds of a love of reading that has the potential of benefiting them throughout their lives. And by doing whatever work we were created to do to the best of our ability, each of us is an example that will help others on their life paths.
I often think of the idea of “planting seeds” in my work as a crisis line counselor. Unlike a counseling setting where the counselor and the client meet on a regular basis and therefore have the potential of building on what has occurred in each of their previous sessions, listening to and talking with someone who calls a crisis line is a one-time occurrence. When the person who calls shares with me her or his reason for calling, I try to do what is possible in the moment to assist. In giving the person my full attention, communicating empathy, and talking with him or her about self-care possibilities to try, I hope that our work together is planting seeds of ideas that will be useful after the call and be another step toward emotional healing.
As I said, Stevenson’s words serve as a helpful reminder to me. I hope you will find his words to be a helpful reminder to you too.