The rain let up as I approached The Link Counseling Center in Sandy Springs. I hadn't meant to stop. I was on my way to Whole Foods. Yet I had discovered the therapeutic gardens there, just off the side of the second building, the one they call The House Next Door, and they were calling me. Free and open to the public, the back garden is a masterpiece of space use, with a fountain, a pond, meandering paths, memorial bricks, a wide variety of flowering plants including one towering sunflower, and cozy nooks for conversation, all in a space no bigger than a tiny back alley and side yard.
But, for me, the real excitement starts in the second garden, the one in the front that forms a buttress between the street traffic and the parking lot. Look closely, because you can't make it out so obviously now in a season of such abundant growth, and it is a brick-pathed Cretan labyrinth. Walk it and you journey inward and outward, rhythmically breathing, impatient at first but then giving in to the cadence of your heartbeat. What makes this labyrinth particularly special, however, is that all the paths are lined with overflowing flowering plants and herbs. It is one giant butterfly garden! And as you walk, you brush against these flowers, carrying their fragrance on your clothes, releasing it to the air like butterflies from their cocoons. And in so doing, you change the world just a little bit, making it more beautiful. And perhaps, in so doing, you change your world as well.
Therapeutic gardens, with their sensual mixture of scent, sound and sight, remind us of the cycles of life. Of dormancy and new growth. And of the mysterious healing power of nature that I think we've yet to truly figure out.
Yes, I found some local food at Whole Foods, clearly, proudly marked. But I found my food for thought here, in this garden.
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1 comments:
Beautiful! Life is full of surprises!
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