I think this is what hooks one to gardening: it is the closest one can come to being present at creation.

Witnessing Something Come Alive

There's something almost magical about watching a seed become a plant. You're not just observing change—you're witnessing the raw act of something coming into being from nothing. That's probably why people find gardening so absorbing, even meditative. It pulls you out of abstract thinking and into pure presence. You have to show up, pay attention, and work with forces bigger than yourself. Your phone doesn't matter. Yesterday's worries fade.

But here's the twist: you don't need a backyard to feel this. The same principle works with anything that makes something grow—baking bread, learning an instrument, raising a kid, even building something at work. Creation doesn't require dirt under your fingernails. It requires you to slow down enough to witness the unfolding. Most of our lives we're rushing from one done thing to the next. We rarely get to be present for the moment something actually comes alive. That's what makes gardening—or any genuine creative act—feel sacred. It reminds us that we're not just consuming or managing. We're participating in the most fundamental human experience: bringing something new into the world.