The Garden Within: Where the War with Your Emotions Ends and Your Most Powerful Life Begins

“I was looking directly at two things God made, and those two things looked alike. Scriptures began to float to the surface of my heart, verses and passages that used flourishing gardens to describe human flourishing.”

This quote introduces the book’s basic premise: that the internal structures of the human brain and the organic structures of the natural world mirror each other. Not only that, but they mirror each other to reinforce the proper way to care for the human brain: as if it were a garden.

“A garden’s condition depends on its soil; the condition of the garden within you—spiritually, mentally, and physically—depends on the soil of your heart. That means embracing your feelings. All of them. And that means it’s time to end the war.”

In this passage, Phillips showcases her characteristic style of imagery through repeated metaphor. Her distinctive, staccato style of sentence structure is likewise eye-catching, creating momentum and certainty in the reader’s experience.

“Plato’s division between thinking and feeling became a defining feature of Western culture: mind good, emotions bad.”

This quote reveals Phillips’s wry simplification of complex philosophical concepts. Her skill as a speaker and an internet personality is evident in how she presents the information, allowing intimidating philosophical models to become more digestible through truthful yet succinct presentation.