When I was young, I learned from school that the sun rises from the east and sets in the west. That’s what I have always believed for about 40 years. I finally learned the truth in 2019.
My family transferred in June 2019 to our present house. The first thing I did was clean the surroundings. It took me two days to pull the cogon grasses, which are less than four feet tall.
I wanted to plant vegetables at the back and side of the house and herbs and ornamental at the front.
Many tall trees are surrounding the house. This means that most areas are in the shade. Our air is fresh and cool all year through.
I studied which plants need more sunlight and which ones will grow in small amounts. Then, I planted them accordingly.
Every morning, I go out to see my plants grow and flower.
After two weeks, I observed something. I planted some of my plants near the front door, so it receives the sunlight they needed. That’s where the sun first shines before six in the morning.
But it moved slightly to the right. Every day, it moved slightly more to the right I thought the sun will eventually shine from the north. Yet, it moved slowly back to the left each day as far as where my Papaya tree was located.
Someplace where I thought there will be no sunlight in the morning got the sunlight they needed.
There are three things I realized.
First, I have been setting goals based on my past experiences. I set goals based on the past. Whatever I don’t know, that’s not part of the plan. But the sun has its own agenda. A project that does not really change and is independent of my goal.
Our experiences may help us get insights. But when it comes to what’s going next, we need foresight. And I realized that even that is not really mysterious. We only need to see where the sun is moving towards this time.
Please let that sink in a bit.
Second, it is easy for human beings to worry about where we are. Most of us are in the shade most of the time. Our growth is stunted. But then, the past two years taught me that the sun will eventually shine on us.
Plants go where the sunlight is.
The sun will also eventually find its way to us.
And the third lesson…well, I will talk about it next Monday.
Remember to get a life and thrive.
Jef Menguin
P.S. You can learn more about this sunrise and sunset explanation here.
