The Rainbow Garden: A Meditation Miracle [Fiction]

The grass is richly green in the May family’s backyard, while the flowers laugh as they bloom down from the soil and finally reach their flexible arms to the sky. The sky is clear blue, and the white puffy clouds dream and wave as they fly by.

Tessia’s mom is watering the plants in her backyard, including jalapenos, green peppers, red peppers, bitter melon, green onions, bananas, guavas, ginger, egg plants, okras and more. All plants add colour to Tessia and her family’s home, especially the delicate and smiling little sunflowers. The backyard is a rainbow farm for the radiant colours that each plant brings.

Tessia’s family is humbled to pick up the gifts that each plant produces. It’s not a burden, but a blessing; the hard work her parents and her older brother do together results in the opportunity to savour the good and share the gifts with their neighbours.

Working together as a team is what makes the garden whole. Without the family members leaning on each other’s backs, it would be a lot harder to keep it together, and the backyard would no longer be the rainbow garden that it is. All the happiness comes from watching it grow, and if it falls to pieces, it would only break their hearts because they put so much time and effort into this garden.

For that reason, Tessia’s brother always checks each plant to make sure if any vegetable or fruit needs to be picked. Stressed out from the long to-do lists for the day, he takes a deep breath and practices his self-soothing exercises until he becomes the breeze. A fresh breath of air shakes the trees so he can catch the ripe plants in his hands. Each day, he hopes to bring a handful of guavas home to share with the family.

The magic of Tessia’s parents

As for Tessia’s mother, she’s diligently working in the garden. She always tends the garden delicately and lovingly with her little fingertips, making sure everything is in the right spot. It’s not an easy thing to do, but she’s dedicated and makes use of the positive habits she’s developed. Whenever she touches the soil, the stems and leaves of the plants always sprout the next day. Also, the plants flap their leaves when she does so.

It’s quite magical that all the flowers dance in her presence. Whenever she walks past them, she gives a little shake, and they dance away, imitating her. However, Tessia’s mom’s success wasn’t immediate. In the beginning, she had to find her strength through trial and error. Allowing herself to personally grow was an important step towards becoming able to nourish the plants successfully.

Now for Tessia’s dad, he’s the sun. He rises each morning to ensure that the plants take in his sunlight to grow. He has a heart condition, but he still manages to radiate cheerfulness and youthfulness, which he passes on to the plants. Seeing the plants grow gives him energy and takes away his fatigue, replacing it with vitality. With his smile, he warms the family’s hearts. Tessia’s dad laughs with his heart and soul.

“Good morning, everyone!” Her dad always speaks brightly and cheers the family on.

What’s my gift?

Tessia looks up to her dad, and she also wants to know what part she plays in the family. She paces around the rainbow garden, unsure of whether she belongs in this environment. The sunlight reflects her eyes, transforming them to honey-gold. She wants to drown herself in the wonder all around her, but she doesn’t know how.

Tessia isn’t like all the other kids in the family. She just doesn’t understand why she can’t blend in with nature and live like they do. She loves her family and wishes she could help them in some way. She doesn’t know her gift yet, so she often dawdles around the backyard, lost in her own thoughts in the animated garden. She battles with herself like a storm, not yet finding the peace within that her mom has found.

What’s my gift? She wonders. It seems that she’s still trying to figure it all out. Tessia is used to watching the plants grow, rather than tending them or watering them. The aroma of the soft petals is with her when she brings them home hesitantly, wondering where to place them. She smells them and thinks about what she can do to embellish her home with the flowers. That, too, she doesn’t know. 

Tessia’s hanging arms feel weary as she anxiously fidgets with her sleeves.

Is growing plants something I would succeed in? Tessia questions herself. She doesn’t think she’d be capable of doing it. She walks around in circles in her own backyard, asking herself these questions.

She remembers that her mom learned to water the plants when she was only 12 years old. Tessia’s mom’s grandmother had a huge garden filled with varieties of vegetables and fruits, and this is what stimulated her imagination enough that she could grow a rainbow garden now. She had a close bond with her plants since that young age. She grew up playing with soil, water and seeds like clay, planting them and watching them grow. The soil, with its smell of a fresh and awakened Earth, rested moistly in her palms.

Tessia’s mom would also pick the fruits from the garden and eat them while they’re ripe. Sometimes she’d climb a fruit tree like a little monkey and sit on its branches, swinging her feet in the air while eating the fruits. She was especially fond of mangoes and guavas. The mangoes were sticky and sweet like honey drizzling down her hands and lips. Her teeth crunched audibly on the guava seeds.

Emerging from her thoughts, Tessia looks over at her mother in the present, stunned by what her mom’s been able to accomplish. She looks up to her mother and aspires to be like her someday.

Tessia’s watering trials

“Darling, would you like to come and help me water the plants?” Tessia’s mom asks her.

“Huh?” Tessia looks startled.

“Would you like to come and help me water the plants?” Her mom asks her again.

“Are you sure, Mom? I don’t think I have watering skills,” she responds in return.

What if I mess it all up? Tessia asks herself.

“I think you’ll do a great job,” her mom tells her.

“What if I don’t?” she wonders. Suddenly, she feels a sense of lightheadedness, like she’s about to faint. This gives her the urge to run back inside the house and hide from her thoughts of self-doubt. She remembers when she was five and she watered a tiny plant too much. It didn’t make it to the next day. She didn’t want that to happen again.

To demonstrate, her mom places the water hose in Tessia’s hands. Her small hands help her press down on the grip. She aims the water hose at the centre of a papaya plant at high speed, and the soil jumps out in different directions, splattering dirt on the garden’s white fences.

“Keep it slow and steady. That’s what the plants need. We don’t want a fast downpour,” Her mom says.

She shifts the water hose to shower mode and sprinkles the water around the plants on the nourished, healthy soil. She does this for just 10 seconds.

“More water, honey,” her mom advises.

“See? I’m not good at this,” she replies in frustration.

“Trust in yourself,” her mother says kindly.

Tessia sighs, holds onto the water hose, and continues pressing on the grip to water the plants.

“Good! Now, while you do the rest, I’ll add some seeds to a new spinach plant we’ll be growing,” her mom says, beaming.

“All right, mom,” Tessia says indecisively. She stands there for almost 20 minutes while watering the guava plant, forgetting about watering the rest.

“I guess I’m done?”

“How long did you water each of the plants?” her mother looks at her inquisitively.

Before responding, Tessia thinks about how long she really did take. She realizes that she spent 20 minutes on the papaya and forgot to water the rest of the plants. Her heart drops.

“I’m sorry, mom. I forgot to do them all. I only watered the papaya,” she says.

What have I done? She thought.

“Oh, no, but we’re running out of time!” Her mother’s eyes widen and she begins to panic. Tessia stands there innocently, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, the sky becomes dark and gloomy as the clouds begin to grey, All the clouds bunch together slowly until they become a heavy mass.

Can the rainbow garden be saved?

Bang! Bang!

Tessia hears thunder and jumps up in alarm, covering her ears. The sunlight is gone and the day isn’t as lively and jolly as it usually is. As the chilly winds come near, lightning flashes across the sky and Tessia begins to shiver.

Usually, Tessia’s mom makes sure that each plant is skillfully lined up and nourished in the same way that she takes care each member of the family. However, Tessia is only a child, and she isn’t such an expert with plants. She just doesn’t know what to do. This garden is something her whole family worked hard on, and she can’t stand to see it fall apart.

Nonetheless, all the beauty is fading away. The rainbows are gone and the grass is getting browner. The plants look withered and their heads are falling down to the ground. They’re malnourished and their leaves are becoming drier, without life. They’re flaky and parched. Tessia’s mental health begins to decline rapidly along with the plants. Her lips become chapped and dry from thirst. She becomes dehydrated, just like the entire garden.

Tessia feels a wave of depression sneak into her mind. With the grey clouds above her head, she walks around hoping that the plants will dance, but they stand still. Their leaves are all on the grass like teardrops. They aren’t lively and free like they should be. Instead, they stand there lifeless and begin to cry. As Tessia’s chest gets heavier, she looks up at the sky and notices how hard it’s starting to rain.

“Oh, no,” the plants sob. “We need water and sunlight to keep our heads up,” they say.

The plants nod at each other sadly and try to reach out to comfort one another, but they don’t know how. When they try to hug or hold each other close, their leaves fall down. Their stems are lopsided and many of them are almost torn apart into two strands.

The daylight is dim, and Tessia’s mother’s honey-golden eyes become the colour of soaked, wet soil. She gasps as she looks all around her.

“I’m sorry, mom. I messed it all up,” Tessia cries. The clouds bash into each other after each flash of lightning. Her mom looks like she’s about to collapse, and her eyes are moist, but she understands. She musters up the courageousness she needs to comfort her daughter. She takes a deep breath and strokes her daughter’s shiny black hair.

“There, there. How about you do some meditation today? You haven’t done it in a long time, and you deserve it. Let me take care of the plants while you relax,” her mom wisely advises.

“Before I go, could I ask you something, mom?” Tessia is teary-eyed as she speaks.

“Yes, what would that be?” Her mom is eager to hear the words.

“What’s my gift in this family? What role do I really play in this garden?” Tessia points her hand all around her.

“Some things take time to find, but you’ll find out eventually. Self-discovery is a journey,” her mother replies.

“Thanks, Mom,” Tessia says. She gives her mom a hug.

Sharing hope for the rainbow garden

Since the plants are already overwatered, Tessia’s mom just advises her father and brother to do their part.

“I’m here for you!” Tessia’s dad comes near the plants to give them some sunlight, but no light shines through. He tries to think as positively as he can to radiate more light, but something brings him down.

“What’s wrong, honey? Why isn’t it working? Usually, you can do it right away,” Tessia’s mother says emotionally. Tessia’s dad looks like he’s about to cry, and then his eyes begin to water.

“I-I don’t know,” he responds.

Tessia looks at her parents and it breaks her heart, because she loves to see her father as his optimistic self. It’s not usual for him to be down, and she wishes she knew what she could do to make it better.

“I’m sorry, honey. Maybe I need some rest today,” Tessia’s dad tells her mom.

Tessia’s brother touches the leaves of a few plants to take notice of where each one is beginning to lose life. He stands in front of the plants to see if they’ll shake, but they don’t.

“Why aren’t they moving?” He sighs and observes all the plants around him. He feels overwhelmed and struggles to bring the breeze in.

“It seems that they don’t know how to move because they aren’t feeling well,” her brother says.

“It’s OK!” Tessia’s dad pushes through and wipes his tears. He looks up at the sky and smiles again. With hope, he says, “It’ll all get better.”

“You’re right, Dad,” her brother says. He takes a deep breath and finds his ease again.

“You all do more than enough. Just have some rest and we will try again the next day,” Tessia’s mother says.

Tessia smiles back at them politely and goes inside the house. When she enters, she still hears rain pouring down hard outdoors. The water pitter-patters on her roof, and hail makes the sound of stones hitting its surface. She yells to her family to come back inside, and they scurry to the door like a small line of little ducklings.

Meditation miracle

When Tessia goes to her room, everything is a mess like she left it. Her bed is undone, her pillows aren’t fluffed, and her clothes and dolls are on the carpet. She notices there is dust on her windows and her workspace table. She feels uneasy looking at how undone her room is, but she knows it’s because she’s been too mentally unstable to keep up with neatness and organization lately.

I need to declutter my mind, Tessia thinks to herself.

It’s only evening, so Tessia gets ready to do some meditation like her mom has asked. This could be the first step to finding more peace. The more mental energy she generates, the better her focus can get. Some good sleep might also energize her and help her focus throughout the next day. Hopefully, then, the plants will rise at her presence.

Tessia sets her phone timer for an hour of meditation. She wants to breathe deeply into her lungs and out through her mouth while imagining a fog of breath being released. She wants to inhale all her blessings and let every tense breath of worry out with the exhales. She doesn’t know how to do that, though, because her breaths are becoming sighs—and they’re not sighs of relief. Every single emotion that comes near her overwhelms her. Guilt, frustration and stress is bottled up inside her chest, and when she tells herself that she’ll let the emotions come and let them go, it’s a tough challenge.

Her hands begin to shake and sweat because she feels tense. She tries to loosen up, but instead of her heartbeat calming down, the palpitations become quicker. She sighs again.

“OK, let me try again. Breathe in and out,” she reminds herself.

Suddenly, every thought of self-doubt and self-blame arrives. These heavy thoughts get louder and louder. She feels exhausted because the thoughts are leaving her confused, but she doesn’t want to let them do this. With determination, she furrows her eye brows, puffs up some breaths and tries again.

Tessia takes a deep breath, imagining her thoughts as white puffy clouds and attempting to blow them away with her exhales. At a leisurely place, they gradually do begin to float away. Her weary chest becomes lighter and lighter with each powerful and dynamic breath. Each breath is cooler than the last one. Her fast heartbeat slowly returns to its normal rhythm.

If life can be focused more on my breaths, how much better would that be? Tessia ponders this question. She wipes her sweaty palms on her bedsheets and her straight face releases a small smile. This glittery glow circles her face and wraps her in reverie, and she begins to giggle from the empowerment. It feels as if a magical wand full of golden dust came to her and zapped her into a happier person. She sits up straight and holds her head a little higher than before.

Miraculously, Tessia feels that her feet are grounded on the carpet floor, and she’s finally fully present in the moment. She realizes that if it’s done slowly, a little self-care can take her far. She opens up her journal and scribbles down some revelations for the day. Following that, she begins to feel sleepy from the tranquil ease that her brain is experiencing.

Why did I stop doing meditation? I should’ve been doing it every day! It feels so good.

She drifts off to sleep and her mom walks in to switch the light off. At first, she’s surprised that Tessia is asleep already, but her forehead begins to relax as she pulls her daughter’s blankets up to her chest and notices that she’s sleeping peacefully with a beaming smile on her face.

A second miracle

The next day, Tessia is energized and lively. She heads to the backyard, hoping to progress with how she waters the plants. This time, when she holds onto the water hose and squirts water on them, they begin to magically and gradually stand taller. She excitedly waters each one, one step at a time. They all began to flourish with life, although they were very thirsty and dehydrated at first.

Tessia is surprised because it was only yesterday that they were getting parched, but today, they all seem brand-new. She feels some kind of miracle taking place inside her brain. Instead of feeling mentally drained, she’s feeling as if her heart, mind and soul are being pampered along with the plants. This causes her pure and childlike love to flow out of the water she’s using, magically turning the plants upside down. The water’s giving never runs out, and Tessia herself begins to blossom with the plants. Her skin becomes more hydrated and glows in the sunshine. She feels revitalized.

She laughs and smiles as the plants began to dance again. Her older brother stands near the guava tree, and a soothing breeze shakes the tree and lets guava fruits fall. Her father shines upon the plants to give them energy to bloom, and all the pink, orange and yellow flowers burst open. Her mom joins her and begins to dance with the plants. She waves her hands left and right, along with Tessia, and the two of them join hands.

In an instant, Tessia evolves into a flower by growing so tall that she can reach the sky. She keeps growing upwards while she hears the leaves ruffling around her stem. She looks at her arm, which turns into gigantic leaves as she grows. She is finally drowning in happiness because of all the beauty around her.

Tessia is breathtaken. She never knew what it would be like to be up this high in the sky before. She sees birds flapping their wings, delighted by the new arrival. She hears a bird sing with a song that’s so sharp and sweet in her ears, it sounds like it’s from land that’s both familiar and far away. The birds are euphoric, and this makes her heart leap. Pink flowers petals sprout around her head as she gets taller and taller.

Tessia takes a deep breath and blows on a white puffy cloud near her head. It dances its way sleepily across the sky.

Her older brother steps on a giant leaf of a plant and sits there. The leaf takes him upwards like an elevator as he quietly slides towards the sky. He enjoys the ride, spotting birds at each level and chirping with each one. Her dad floats upwards on leaves as well. Light glows all around him as he reaches the sky and transforms into a sun to shine upon them all.

“Hey, Dad!” Tessia says enthusiastically. She sees him happily brightening the days of others. He gives her energy that helps her sprout and bloom beautifully. She feels cool breezes flowing in her direction.

Tessia’s mom takes a deep breath and inhales the fresh air of her garden. She closes her gentle eyes, sits on the garden’s swing and embraces the colours all around her. Then, she floats on a leaf up to the clouds to see what the view is like from up there. The greens, reds, yellows and oranges below turn into rainbow confetti. The whole family is one with nature.

Tessia feels a sense of relief, peace and love overflow within her, leaving her teary-eyed and compassionate for herself and others. She comes to know that love is something that’s beyond the sky, but close enough to reach into their hearts.

Tessia’s mom makes her way to the top of a ladder of leaves, never losing any energy. Each climb gives her more strength, and she never loses her grip on the stem of the leaf ladder. The breaths of the clouds are above her, hovering in the air. The sun is above Tessia’s head, illuminating her mind and the day. She and her family members can feel the wind kissing their faces as they climb along with her mother. Finally, after they reach the top, they sit and watch the world go by from a distance—especially their little rainbow garden down below.

«RELATED READ» A WAVE IN SEARCH OF ONENESS: From arrogance to the discovery of universal spirit» 

images: Depositphotos