The Law of the Seed: Focus on your intention
You're not responsible for results, only for the "seed" you plant: your intention. The final outcome is vulnerable to a thousand variables you can't control—the weather, the economy, simple luck, the mood of another person. But your intention? That is yours alone, in this very moment. This focus moves you from a place of helpless anxiety about the future to a place of grounded power in the present.
The Two Harvests
Every action has two harvests:
1. The Outer Harvest (The Result) This is the external outcome you can't control. It's the promotion, the salary, the "like" on social media, the praise you receive, or whether someone takes your advice. Chasing this is a recipe for exhaustion because it's a finish line that always moves, and it's never guaranteed.
2. The Inner Harvest (The Feeling) This is the immediate emotional aftertaste you can control. It’s the quiet thud of integrity in your chest when you tell the truth, the sour knot of anxiety when you cut a corner, or the simple, clean peace that comes from acting in alignment with your core values.
Stop chasing the Outer Harvest; it puts you on an emotional rollercoaster, where your worth rises and falls with every external event. Focus only on the Inner Harvest. This is the true source of stable contentment and self-respect, a wellspring you can draw from regardless of what the external world does or doesn't give you.
The "Bad Seed" (Planted from Fear/Ego)
This is planting from a place of "not enough," for a specific result ("I do this so that I get..."). Examples: giving a gift to get one back, acting nice to avoid conflict, or overworking to manipulate a promotion.
Inner Harvest: Anxiety. Why? Because you've tied your peace to an uncontrollable result. The act is incomplete, and you're left waiting, worrying, and often, feeling resentful.
The "Good Seed" (Planted from Care/Integrity)
This is planting from your values, from a place of "I am whole" ("I do this because it's..."). Examples: acting because it's helpful, true, or simply the right thing to do, with no strings attached. The action is an expression, not a transaction.
Inner Harvest: Peace. Why? Because the action is its own reward. The act of being helpful is the harvest. The event is complete the moment you do it. You are not waiting for anything to complete you.
The Trap of Perfectionism
Perfectionism is a "bad seed" in disguise. It feels like high standards, but its intention is fear: fear of the outcome, fear of others' opinions, fear of being seen as flawed. Its harvest is paralysis and shame; it stops you from planting at all.
Excellence, on the other hand, is a "good seed." Its intention is care and full, present engagement in the action itself. Its harvest is integrity and quiet pride, no matter the result.
What Detachment Really Means
Detachment isn't apathy or giving up. It's the active, powerful state of caring more about your intention (the seed) and less about the outcome (the harvest). You engage fully in your part—you write the email with care, you have the conversation with integrity—and then you release your grip on the result. You let the world do its part.
Plant good seeds. That is all.
