On my way back from cleaning the kitchen garbage, I happen to pass these trees.

Filled with fruit, both raw and new, the very sight of it took me to the best childhood memories of it.

Grandma’s Orchard

Many moons ago ,

During Summer, I would open my eyes to the leftover pollens on me from the dry wind, as I lie on the cot spread outside in the courtyard.

A huge mango tree stood right in the middle of my grandma’s orchard—I would call her “Amma”, and my Mango tree with no name was my secret friend.

The tree was huge with its widespread branches covering half of the courtyard, the trunk was strong, firmly rooted with thick lines of bark, sharing its existence with my grandma’s wrinkles.

The branches held tender flowers and then these raw mangoes; it was a huge tree—a home to many of the birds I first got introduced to through it, including the Indian Crow, the “Koyal” Indian Nightingale, and the Woodpecker, who seemed to live alone, my first encounter with the “Hud-Hud” bird (Hoopoe) was also through the same tree.

The Healing practices.

Every time I practice a grounded meditation it is my secret friend

(The Mango tree) I imagine, holding space for me, supporting me and help me feel grounded when the world seems to lie beyond my control.

As I picked these tiny little raw fruits -Kachchi kayri, reminiscing of the best-cherished memories I went about my day.

Healed through reminiscing.

This day filled me with lot of positive energy, it made me practice an effective technique – “Savouring” thereby filling my nervous system with the required chemicals that in turn, would calm my body, build my resilience and prepare me to meet the uncertain world.

Nature is far too generous; it gave everything I needed on that particular day.

How memories work

We have several things, places, people and events in our life that hold meaning and associations, of whatever we have assigned to them. 

If a trigger can hold the power to traumatize again

A cherished memory holds the power to heal.

Practice Savouring

Step 1 : Keep all your senses active and mindful to collect the best of what Life has stored for you in form of cherished memories;

Step 2 : recall and revisit these cherished memories, on any given day that’s testing you in many ways

Step 3 : reminisce it.

Practice of these three simple steps can help as one of the most effective ways to negate and mellow down the several downsides of Life, which are equally inevitable! 

(c) Mehnaz Amjad – 2017 -2024

About the Author ; Mehnaz Amjad, is a Coach and a Cognitive Behavior Practitioner

I’m on a mission to empower people with strategies and tools, they need to cope with difficult times & navigate through challenging circumstances.