I’m sure most of us here on the Garden Island of Kaua‘i have eaten fresh vegetables grown by local farmers, or even from our own gardens. There is nothing like a fresh garden vegetable salad. When we were in Italy, we experienced this even in restaurants. Nothing was imported—everything was fresh and locally grown, whether it was animal, vegetable, or mineral.

Let’s face it: when food is fresh, it is the best. Would you agree?

When I lived in New Mexico, I always had a garden. It was rich and plentiful. My dad was always envious of my big, juicy beefsteak tomatoes. He was trying to figure out a way he could bring them back to Italy with him. My tomatoes were even better than Italian tomatoes. Why? He said it was the volcanic soil my yard was built upon. I didn’t need to fertilize. The soil was already rich—eons of untouched natural soil—perfect just as it was.

But I remember another experience with gardening that taught me something different. I once tried to plant a garden in a yard where nothing would grow. I planted tomatoes. Nothing. I planted herbs. Nothing. I watered faithfully and tried again and again. Still nothing grew. I couldn’t understand it. The sun was good. The water was good. The seeds were good. Later I discovered that long before I arrived, the yard had been heavily treated with pesticides. The soil had been poisoned. The life within it had been killed. No matter how carefully I planted, nothing could grow.

That experience stayed with me. Because it reminds me so much of the human mind and spirit. We, as spiritual beings—souls—are rich in minerals and vitamins. Within each of us is everything we could possibly require to flourish and grow on Earth. We come into this life with intuition and the Clairs—clairvoyance, clairsentience, clairaudience—the power of our heart brain, our gut, and many other innate and powerful natural abilities. We are not merely “human.” We are humans with superpowers.

The question is: do we know it? Do we farm these qualities? Do we tend our garden of superpowers, or do we ignore them? Are we in the know about ourselves? Perhaps we turn to others and their superpowers to guide us and govern us when all along we know the way. Truly, we are the only ones who can know our answers—and sometimes even the questions we should be asking.

Sometimes we become frustrated with ourselves. Why can’t I hear my intuition? Why don’t I feel my inner power? Why don’t I know what to do? But perhaps nothing is wrong with us at all. Perhaps, like that yard I tried to garden in, the soil of our consciousness has simply been treated over time with the pesticides of fear, competition, domination, shame, or the belief that we are somehow small or powerless.

But here is the good news. Just as soil can be restored, so can consciousness. The richness was always there. We simply need to begin tending the garden again. We do not have to go on an excavation for these innate superpowers. We merely need to begin using them, trusting them, trusting ourselves. Do we listen to the still small voice? Do we follow our feelings and hunches that we know are true, or do we brush them aside as nonsense?

No one downloaded these superpowers into us after we were born. We came fully installed—perhaps after eons of evolution, evolving from snail to human. In each incarnation we grew, we expanded, we learned. There were storms and ages lost. We made mistakes and started over repeatedly. And each time we began again, we were a little wiser. However, sometimes that wisdom becomes covered by deadly poisons—the pesticides of lust for power over one another, dominion over the Earth, competition, and the hunger for increased ownership. Many civilizations have fallen because of this greed.

So here we are again. But this time, we know more. We’ve died and risen enough times that something within us has awakened—and we cannot go back to sleep again. Each lifetime, humans have become increasingly aware of their superpowers. At one time we relegated them to a few—Jesus, Buddha, the prophets, Muhammad, and others. We allowed them to be the enlightened ones and we fell under their spell. They tried to help. But once they were gone, we struggled to stand alone.

Now we are looking for someone to save us. But we are beginning to realize something profound. No one is coming. We are the ones we have been waiting for.

If we have been farming the garden of our mind through our hearts and our soul connection to our Source—Love—then we are ready to bring to the table of life the gifts that will nourish a new generation. Many are being born now who already know this. Others who are here—you, me—we know it too. We know that everything we could ever need is right where we are and no one can take it away from us. It is the power of the heart and mind aligned as one that brings forth our superpowers. We know it is time. And we do not have to fear anything but “fear itself.”

One of the ways we begin restoring the soil of our consciousness is through intentional stillness. For me, one of the most powerful places to experience this is the labyrinth. The labyrinth is not a maze. There is only one path. It winds and turns, sometimes bringing us closer to the center, sometimes seeming to lead us away. Very much like life. But when we walk the labyrinth, something beautiful happens. The thinking mind begins to quiet. The nervous system settles. The heart begins to speak. And suddenly intuition rises. Clarity appears. Answers emerge. It is as though the soil of consciousness softens again and something long buried begins to grow. The labyrinth becomes a place where we remember that our superpowers were never lost. They were simply waiting for us to tend the garden again.

We are ready to create a new order of being as we bring love, wisdom, collaboration, and cooperation to the table of life and practice it. As we speak out, not about what we are against but about what we are for; as we become shining examples of living this higher order of being, we give others permission to do the same.

Your first question might be: How can we live like this when so many are suffering right now? I’m not going to call that a useful question unless you can offer a better answer. Instead, I would ask: How can you not live fully and powerfully? Those who are suffering cannot lift themselves out of suffering by remaining stuck in their weakness. We can lead the way. We can pick up the fallen, but we cannot live their lives for them. We can only live our own so that we can throw a rope of inspiration to those who seem to be sinking.

And please do not argue that what I am saying is about the “me generation.” Self-improvement is not selfish. Self-improvement is generous. Self-improvement is necessary for the expansion of the whole human race.

It is possible that we might not save the Earth this time around unless we truly jump onto the board of evolution. We can become DNA changers. Perhaps we will not save everything this time, but we have come much further in our knowing of how to do it better.

The Earth will be just fine. It knows how to regenerate itself. It is rich with the intelligence to replenish itself from what appears to be nothing but consciousness. We are the same way. Something grows us from within. It is Consciousness—and it never gives up.

We are at a pivotal point. We can continue toward destruction, or we can finally open ourselves to the rich inner soil of creativity, imagination, and intuition. We do not need to say, “Come follow me.” That is dangerous. We only need to say: Watch me. By our fruits we will be known.

I invite you to farm your inner knowing, bring all your gifts to the table, and invite those who wish to come to the feast.

Rev. Dr. Rita Andriello-Feren, Author, Co-Founding Spiritual Director CSL Kaua’i, Institute of Magnificence & Partners in Empowerment