Hey, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about being patient with our own growth process. So are you in a place right now in your life where you're putting in a lot of effort, but not necessarily reaping any perceived rewards? Have you ever had an experience like that where you're trying really hard at something, but not seeing the results? Maybe your growth is just happening in a way that you can't yet perceive. I remember a while back when I was training in jujitsu, I went through a period of, of this, myself, of just feeling stagnant. And I talked to my teacher, Milton Regis about this, and he told me a story.

He said, Cory, let me tell you how bamboo grows. I was like, okay, I don't know where this is going. He says, when you plant bamboo seeds, in the first five years, you don't see anything. Nothing arises just dirt. And it almost seems like a dud, nothing happens.

But five years later, seemingly out of nowhere, the bamboo shoots up out of the ground, but not just in the place that you planted. Ten feet in all directions, multiple feet beyond that in all directions and, and shoots up high and large, very quickly and very strongly. And now anyone that's ever experienced what it's like to have bamboo on their property or ever walked through bamboo, you know, that can be pervasive. It's hard to get rid of, very strong foundation, very strong base. And what he said is that what's happening during those five years is the bamboo is spreading.

It's growing its roots. It's creating a strong, solid foundation. And he told me that's what's happening for you right now. Although you may not see anything sprouting from the surface, you may not be able to perceive the growth happening, there are things happening beneath the surface. You're laying your foundation.

You're strengthening that foundation. You're growing your roots. So I offer that to you as well. You might be putting in a lot of effort and maybe you feel like a plant and you're giving yourself a lot of water, a lot of sunshine, taking care of yourself, doing the best you can to try and help yourself grow. And if you're in this place of not feeling like anything's happening, I hope you can be patient.

And I hope you can come back to the idea of maybe you're just growing like the bamboo. And although nothing is sprouting yet trust that you're planting your roots, you're spreading wide and deep, and you're preparing for the great emergence. Patience takes time. It's one of the things that mindfulness practice helps us do. Trust the process.

Something will sprout eventually. Thank you for your practice. I'll talk to you in the meditation and take care.