Ep.30 After Failure, This is When You Should Try Again

Welcome to ReConnect with Plant Wisdom. I am your host, Tigrilla Gardenia, Nature-Inspired Mentor and Leadership Coach. In this podcast, I share ancient and modern knowledge, from biology to spirituality, about the wondrous ways plants can help you lead a Naturally Conscious Life.

I am just so excited to be here with you. There is so much to talk about today, because today we’re talking about after failure. This is when you should try again. Now, before I even start, it’s kind of like an interesting time of year to be going through this.

As I record this, we’re in the fall. The fall is that time of year when you sort of think about it from a plant’s perspective, you recall all of your nutrients, everything that has served you and you just let everything else sort of whittle away and die, and just fall off and be composted and become, you know, food for the next season and such like that. And so this is a really great time to look at things like failure and moments when you’ve had difficulty or when you feel like things didn’t exactly go the way that you plan. And we have to remember that every living being is in constant change.

And I really mean, every being I think even saying living confuses the matter because I was recently listening to a geologist who was asked our rocks alive, typical question of, especially in an age right now where we’re talking about aliveness, we’re talking about intelligent, we’re talking about conscious and I think she was being asked like, Are they alive and are they conscious of what’s going on? And she, her answer was absolutely beautiful, especially coming from a hardcore scientist like what she is and I was actually surprised that she said it this way, but she says, she said if my alive you mean constantly adapting to the conditions morphing and growing over time, then yeah, rocks are alive and and really aware of their environments. And so it was interesting to hear the perspective where she was applying awareness consciousness livingness beingness to the relationship between the environment in which you’re in and what you do as a result of being in that environment. And that’s really the core of what I want to talk about today relating to what plants can help us understand about failure, and more importantly, what to do after failure or when to try again, if at all. And one of the interesting one of the most important aspects of a natural system like an ecosystem is the ability of that natural system to to absorb the effects of change, to reorganize themselves to adapt to the environment, knowing that that organism is part of the environment. So as the organism changes and adapts, then the environment by its very nature will change and adapt and then there’s this back and forth going through.

So really, it’s about flowing with your environment, which in this particular case, I use the word environment and not with the nature around you because you are nature right so environment is that which is around you that affects you and that which is around you that you affect and all of it is nature, right I am nature, your nature, we’re all nature, but the ability to really reorganize yourself and adapt to the environment around you and then as a consequence, see how the environment changes and then continue this process back and forth is vital, especially if we’re going to safeguard you know, the biodiversity, the natural state, the way that we think like really being part of the natural world in which we live. So an organism whether we’re talking about an individual or an ecosystem level must must must respond to change without in some ways altering its basic structure right because once it alters its Vegas basic structure it becomes or they become something new key becomes something new, completely different, which is not always a bad thing. And sometimes it’s necessary. I mean, evolution of species over millions of years happens in this way.

But if we want to keep kind of an integrity going and in for our purposes, we really want to think about it without altering your basic structure, right. It’s not about you changing who you are. It’s more about how do you look at something that may have failed, and then make the decisions necessary in order to understand the next steps after and this is extremely important for all of us to learn and understand and plants do this especially well, you know, as I said, the environment changes. So do the plants that live in that environment. And then as the living plants change the environment as a consequence changes, right. So we got to keep thinking about this in a state of constant flux and flow. So that’s the first thing I want you to think about. I want you to think about something like failure, not as a static event. So this is kind of like the first premise piece. Don’t think of it as something that just happens. But more start to think about as a flow state as a state in the current flow that you’re in. And so there we can start to understand what to do as the flow starts to change. Now, sometimes what’s going to be necessary for you to do after failure is just some minor modifications. Other times it’s going to require an entire plan of action because there was some miscalculation going on.

So let’s just talk about what happens when what you try fails. Okay, and I want to make thing one thing really, really, really clear. Failure is a constant in the natural world. So if you think that failure is something that shouldn’t happen, you’re already out of tune with your own natural environment. Because in nature, failure is constantly happening for lots of different reasons that we’re going to get into, right and we have to understand that the only way we can try new things and remember, as I said at the very beginning, in the living world, everything is constantly changing. That’s where growth occurs. growth happens when you change. If you think about yourself from a baby being born to whatever age that you are right now, you have changed so incredibly much in those years. So this change and the only way that you are able to try things like walking is because you fell right you would take a step and maybe your legs weren’t strong enough so you would fall or maybe you tried standing up on somebody and holding yourself up and sometimes you were able to do it and sometimes you fell but every time you fell you got a better understanding for the way that your legs work, and then eventually you were able to walk.

So in the natural world, failure is constantly happening. That’s part of the adaption process, and I’ve talked a lot about the adapting right in the first few episodes of this podcast so you can go back to those first episodes to really understand adapting to changing conditions. So let’s just be clear from the very beginning that if there is no failure, if there’s no trying things and potentially failing from them, then change would never happen. And so what we really want to talk about here is how is it that plants manage change and especially, how is it that they move forward after a major failure, something that completely goes wrong in the sense of what they were trying to accomplish in that very given moment. But first, I want to take a quick moment to share with you one of our Eco conscious business partners. You supporting them is really supporting me and all of my team, both human and plants that collaborate with me to bring you this podcast to bring you my programs and everything that you find in the naturally conscious community. So just take a few seconds to listen, learn and hopefully collaborate with this business partner. Any little bit we can do to help the environment is a win in my book. That’s why I’m such a fan of who gives a crap, a be certified company that donates 50% of the profits to ensure everyone has access to clean water and a toilet within our lifetime. Not all of us have access to the day. So if you have to wipe your bum with something, this is the best toilet paper to choose. They wrap their TP in paper, not plastic, which saves tons of harmful plastic from ending up in our landfills or hurting animals and get this one box of TP can last up to a whole year. Trust me. I’ve tried this with my own family. They have two eco friendly options, one made out of recycled sheets and other from bamboo sheets, which is super fast growing alternative to trees. They’re soft and strong and really hold up who gives a crap delivered to your door and offers 100% money back guarantee. You can’t beat that. So click on the link in the show notes to give it a go.

Okay, so back to change management or better said failure management. First and foremost, plants always work from the roots first, okay? Even when a plant has runners or explorers explores the world from tendrils or from leaves. Only that only only happens once there are roots so whenever a seed is sown, it is the roots that are strengthened first or the roots go down. So once the roots are strong, then the outer growth can start to happen and the sprouting starts to begin. So this gives us an idea of where we should look first. When we have a major failure. When we have a failure. We need to look at what is the root system that we needed to create and was that being created correctively correctively is not a word correctly is a word. Okay? So what I’m trying to say is that we as humans think we can be really clever, right in biomimicry we say quiet your cleverness and your cleverness is the ability for us to do we put a lot of emphasis in the action. We put lots and lots of credibility and of belief and more importantly, even our value system in what you are doing.

We put very little in the process to discover what we’re doing the planning phases or even before the phases of understanding the problem, and of making sure that we have all the pieces ready in order for us to carry out our action plan. We tend to be a species that sort of tries to learn as we do. And sometimes that can be that can work but if you failed, then it’s always a good thing for you to take a step back and look at whether or not you have a strong foundational roots. So think about the last failure you had whatever it is that you were doing, okay, now think about what would be considered the roots of that problem. And were they firmly in place did you really think about why you were creating what you created, or what you were doing? Or whatever, whether it was a project or a personal goal or any of this? And did you really think about what that looked like? What would it look like in its most complete sense? And when I say what would it look like I’m not talking about I don’t know. I want to have a really beautiful house and then I think about Oh, I get lots of money in my hand because that’s not the part that is important.

That’s more of a how how do I buy the house with money? And that’s an assumption that you’ve made. The what is the house itself? What is it that I really want? I want a house okay, what are the characteristics of that house? I want a house that has this kind of exposure. I want a house that’s close to these types of landmarks. I want a house that has things when you think about a route, right if you think about a seed and a route, a seed has many different possibilities and characteristics inside of it. The plants has the ability to choose from a wide array of characteristics that are all connected to that particular type of plant. So when the plant starts to put down roots needs to understand what is it that that that plant needs to accomplish? Is that plant trying to accomplish heights is it accomplished trying to accomplish growth in with perspective is the plant trying to be in an environment that has very cold conditions, very hot conditions, there’s lots of different aspects. And so therefore the plant needs to understand the what what is I’m trying to create stability. I’m trying to create growth. In some cases. I’m just trying to have this middle of the road before I move on to a different area. There’s lots of what that can be. So really, if you failed in your project, one of the first things to go back to is why were you trying to do whatever it is that you were trying to do again, whether it be an outside project or your own personal growth, and then what was I trying to accomplish?

Without the how so this is that tricky part that is really subtle. Again the money getting the money is on how it is not the what’s the what’s in the case of the House Project is getting the house of having that house and even going back from there is more like I really want shelter. I want to place that I can put my stuff I want to feel cozy, I want to feel exposed, whatever might be the things that are right for you. Okay, so most likely one big aspect of your failure was not exploring this, which means that your action plan was failed. And a plant would go and just reinforce routes. You’ve sometimes seen this. You’ve seen plants that maybe grow really fast. Maybe you put them in a greenhouse environment or something like that, that gave them lots of nourishment and they put out a lot of leaves, but then they’re wobbly and so they might stall for a while and oftentimes that’s because they’re building out the root system can really need that root system to always match what’s happening above. So that relationship between roots and above is really is really important. So first put on, understand that make sure you have all the resources you need for that first level of growth that you’re planning for.

For that first level of what and the why that you’re planning for before you ever start to venture out. So always ask yourself, How can I strengthen my roots? Whenever I fail at something most likely it’s because I did not have a strong foundation and I need to go back to the roots now let’s assume for whatever reason that you have roots that are firmly in place and you still failed. Which when should you try again? What what to do with that next? Well, if your plan was good, because your roots were in place, and you built a plan, or you built actions that were in harmony, let’s say with those routes that we’re working with, it’s time to now look at the conditions. Okay, what the conditions are, excuse me take a sip of water I have little thing in my throat. I think that’s connected to the change of season right since and I know it sounds weird. Because we already changed the season in September. But as I’m recording this, it’s October and it’s finally getting cold where I live. It hadn’t been up until now.

So it really feels like the season is just changing right now. Anyway, I was talking about if you have a really good plan in place already in the sense that you’ve checked your routes in your routes match your foundation has been built. Now it’s time to look at the external conditions. What happens when a seed tries to germinate in the middle of winter? Most likely that seeds not going to make it right the conditions are just as important as your plan. It’s important for you to really think about all the different aspects that influence your plan. So you go to your why you go to your what that’s your foundation, those are your roots. Now it’s you’re at the edge of the soil and you’re about to break through before you break through with whatever action you want. You want to send out a kind of first sprout that assesses what the conditions are. And it takes those conditions and it brings them down into the roots and then it says Do I need to modify anything? Were there things in the atmosphere was the quality of the soil the quality of the air, the quality of the sunlight, the amount of water coming through? We’re all these are all these right now in this atmosphere condition the same as what I expected when I laid down my roots. If they’re not then of course I can easily fail in this project.

So if you have failed, the next thing for you to look at is what were the conditions that were different from the assumptions that you made when you created your action plan. As you were working through things, what were the things that you thought were going to happen right? I thought I was going to have this much sunlight. I thought I was going to have this much support from others, right. So in the case of other plants that may be near you that give you nourishment by ways that you don’t that you can’t make yourself or fungal associates that are connecting with you. Right. What are the conditions that I assumed that weren’t there for whatever reason so you might have had a project where you thought you could do it all on your own and when you broke in and you started to break through the soil and start to get into it, you realize that you were missing skill sets, or you were missing personnel that you didn’t expect to have? Or maybe, you know, maybe it was just the wrong time of year you had a project that is something that people really purchase in the case of a product something that people really purchase in the fall and you tried to launch it in the spring, right there’s many different conditions outside of yourself that you can go look at. So if those conditions are different, then you could re launch even the exact same plan, but in the conditions that are appropriate. Or sometimes you have to modify your routes in order to get what you need.

So you have to either pull in another plant that is maybe giving you some kind of nitrogen that you can’t get or any other kind of support system that you can’t get. So you might have to bring in a collaborator, you might instead be able to just modify what you’re trying to output in order to better use the conditions that exist in that moment. So these are all kind of ways for you to look at the conditions. First I look at my routes, then I look at my conditions. And if the conditions are different, then I either make modifications, and then I relaunch or if the conditions are at a time now that are more favorable than when I launched last time or when I tried to do this last time then I do it now. So I could go on and on and on and on and on listing out the many ways that plants provide excellent mentors, mentorship and models in order for you to get out of failure. Many of them have been covered in the plant inspired master classes that I do every single month as part of blooming sprouts in the naturally conscious community. Right? These masterclasses are exactly to answer all of these types of questions. It’s the place where we get into the nitty gritty details. And because you’re live on the call, you’re able to ask questions, we’re able to get into your unique situations we’re able to very quickly adapt these models and mentors that we’re learning from plants to what is happening in your day to day life. So we’ve done things like responding to a crisis, which is also very useful when it comes to failure, building eco tones in order for us to test out our mutations with the changes that I want to make right so maybe I have a failure. Maybe my conditions are different, but maybe I have to build the types of conditions that are necessary so I can build out an eco tone, a space of transition that allows me to test other things. What does it mean to break through conditioning? Maybe the reason that my plan is not working is because I’m thinking it’s going to work in one way but that’s only because I’ve been taught that way and that’s not really the best way forward for me. So there’s lots of different things and all the recordings are available for you to watch they’re in the plants inspired masterclass grouping that it’s inside of blooming sprouts. So really just go join blooming sprouts seriously. There’s like a few years worth of master classes. And again, every month we do a live one and so another opportunity for you to ask the questions to go deeper and to really think about and learn how to apply all this to your own life.

So but I do want to leave you before we go. So I’ve given you kind of two major ways that plants help us understand what to do after a failure. But I want to give you one of the single most important ones in my opinion. So we have routes, we have the conditions. The number one thing for you to remember after a failure is that you change therefore, sometimes you don’t have to alter your plan at all. It’s just the fact that you are different than when it happened last. So if you really think about it, if you think about the last time that you failed at something and and a little time has gone by you’ve had time to check the routes you’ve had a chance to check the conditions. Everything looks good. Now’s the time for you to ask yourself what is different in me from the last time I tried, right? How is it that I could use those differences in order to give me a better chance to succeed? If a plant is a plant tries to flower for example, when key is too young, right? It’s very possible that key might be able to scrape up enough energy to create a bud but they really risk hurting themselves by wasting all of their energy trying to get that bud to actually flower. It’s way too early. The plant can even enjoy the benefits of what comes from that flower. This is a reason why if you go to a nursery and you see these plants that are constantly budding, which most likely the reason that they have all these beautiful flowers on them is because they’re filled with all kinds of different hormones that push them to have the flowers. What happens is you bring them home, they’re no longer being given this extra duty supplement, and then they wilt away and die because they have spent all of their energy trying to do something that they weren’t ready to do. So don’t spend your energy trying to do something you’re not ready to do. You have to wait until you’re mature enough just the same as that plant does. When you can store up have enough energy when you can have all the right characteristics and necess and tools that are necessary for you to be able to do this because even when a plant is mature enough if they don’t put out those buds in the right season when the pollinators are out again, they have a failure. So yes, now they could flower but that flower doesn’t return anything back to them. And therefore it was a waste of energy. And we already know plants can’t waste energy because plants are never sure where their energy is going to come from next. So it’s extremely important for you to recognize that it you have to look at yourself and make sure are you in the right state of mind. Are you in the right time of year? Are you having all the skill sets that are necessary in order for this plan to succeed this time around? Remember you’re different every single day your skill set improves, your knowledge expands your awareness becomes more refined.

There are things that you can do and you can’t do that you can understand today that you couldn’t understand yesterday. There are so many parts of you that are constantly changing and growing and maturing and learning and expanding. So when your roots are solid, and your plan is thought out, the conditions are right for you to be able to really move this forward. The only thing there is for you to wait for is for you to be the person that you need to be in order to carry this out successfully. And don’t be afraid to hold a really good plan. I know that when you have something amazing on your hands. It’s easy to think let me just put it out there. I’ll learn as I go. But if you’ve already had a failure, then it’s better for you to to assess when is the right time. When is the market ready? When am I ready? What all these different elements rather than again, trying to put it out and getting frustrated because it doesn’t work. Don’t let the fear hold you back failure again is completely normal. Use it as an opportunity to learn to grow to make changes to try again. You know there. There is so much so many moving parts to any kind of plan. So give yourself the opportunity to trust in yourself to trust that you will find that’s the reason the way the plants do it right. They follow that instinct they follow that ray of sunlight, they follow that nutrition. They follow what is around to the destination they wish to they wish to achieve and they are not afraid kin have absolutely no problem with changing course or making adjustments as necessary. forming partnerships using other plants. Really moving things forward and taking those steps and sometimes taking a long time to get there an oak tree could take 20 years before they start to you know put out acorns, there’s plenty of plants that take their sweet time in order for them to achieve whatever it is that they need to achieve. And you know, in some ways, you’re just a glorified plant so you might as well take that time yourself. Alright, I hope you have enjoyed this episode. I’d love to hear has there been a time when you failed at something and you’ve been too scared to try again?

Or how could plant logic help you see the situation differently? I want to hear your thoughts. I want to hear what you think about what we talked about. So please leave me a comment or better yet join the conversation in the naturally conscious community. NCC is your supportive ecosystem to explore new ways of living and collaborating and doing things with our plant friends. And that kin home has so much to teach us about our way of living and how we can improve by embodying that natural intelligence. In other words, reawakening our own planets. So I hope that you will come into the naturally conscious community and join us for some of these exciting conversations are planted. So I read masterclasses and all the other activities and programs that we have there. That’s me today I got to Danya I hope you enjoyed this episode. Remember until we see each other again resist the urge to hold back your evolving green brilliance bye bye for now. Thanks for listening to this episode of reconnect with plant wisdom, Intro and Outro Music by Steve Shuli and poinsettia from the singing Life of Plants. So join me to get it out of Dania and my plant collaborators next time on reconnect with plant wisdom.

Thanks for listening to this episode of reconnect with plant wisdom, Intro and Outro Music by Steve Shuli and poinsettia from the singing Life of Plants. So join me to give you like our Dania and my plant collaborators next time on reconnect with plant wisdom