What do you water?

I came across this quote by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh while reading a fantastic article in The Medium by Jack Kornfield (check out the article HERE).

It got me thinking about the fact that we all have tendencies toward love and peace as well as anger and hate. We have the power to decide what we want to water and feed and ultimately who we want to become in life. It reminded me of a turning point in my life as an undergraduate college student. I was working just about full time to pay for school, taking a full course-load as a major in Psychology with a Minor in Law, and studying to take the LSAT and GRE tests to apply to graduate schools. I was hoping to do a dual MSW/JD degree. As you can imagine, it got to be too much to do it all and I had a decision to make.  I loved the law and had dreamed of being a lawyer since I was a little girl, but then fell in love with psychology classes after taking AP Psych in HS. Trying to study for both exams and take a dual path was overwhelming and my perfectionism was taking a toll on my mental health. I had to make a decision about moving forward in one direction, not both. After thinking about what career I wanted for the rest of my life, I began to contemplate WHO I wanted to be. It is in my nature to be driven, competitive, and a bit headstrong. I knew that would serve me well if I went to law school. On the other hand, I always had a lot of empathy for others and could be nurturing and supportive at times. Social work school could help to increase my emotional intelligence and gain insight into my own anxiety while fostering the caregiving parts of myself. So by asking myself who I wanted to become instead of just what I wanted to be, the answer was clear. At that time I chose to water the seeds of love, peace and respect for myself by going to graduate school for social work. 

What about you?