The weeds keep multiplying in our garden, which is our mind ruled by fear. Rip them out and call them by name. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

The weeds keep multiplying in our garden, which is our mind ruled by fear. Rip them out and call them by name.

Author: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Insight: We all know the feeling of our minds getting tangled—that moment when one worry branches into five others, each one feeding the last. Left unchecked, these mental weeds take over the whole garden. Fear does this particularly well. It plants itself quietly, then suddenly you're anxious about money, then health, then whether you're doing enough, then whether anyone actually likes you. Each worry grows roots and spreads. The real insight here isn't just "think positive thoughts" or "don't worry." It's that naming the fear matters. When you actually pause and say out loud—"I'm afraid I'm not good enough" or "I'm scared of losing control"—something shifts. The weed stops being this vague shadow and becomes something specific you can look at directly. That's when you can actually uproot it, instead of just feeling its presence everywhere. Ignoring weeds only makes them stronger. This applies to more than big anxieties too. It's the small, unnamed dread that makes you doomscroll at night, or the unspoken fear that keeps you from trying something new. The practice is simple: notice when your mind feels crowded, get honest about what's actually growing there, name it, and decide whether it deserves your garden space.