The Quiet Warrior Podcast with Serena Low

102. Plant Wisdom for Introverts: How Nature Teaches Self-Trust, Boundaries & Authentic Living with Tigrilla Gardenia

• Serena Low, Introvert Coach for Quiet Achievers and Quiet Warriors

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Serena speaks with Tigrilla Gardenia — nature-inspired mentor, certified life coach, and host of the Reconnect with Plant Wisdom Podcast. Tigrilla shares how her extraordinary journey into plant intelligence reshaped her understanding of identity, purpose, and what it truly means to thrive as an introvert.

Together, they explore:

  • Tigrilla’s extraordinary journey into plant consciousness
  • How plant neurobiology and ecosystem thinking help us understand ourselves
  • Why introverted traits are powerful when viewed in context
  • The freedom that comes from self-advocacy and honouring your needs
  • How to thrive without labels, shame, or pressure to be someone you’re not
  • Practical ways leaders can create spaces where introverts flourish


Tigrilla’s message for introverts:


 “There is nothing wrong with you. Every trait you have is a superpower—you just need to know where it fits in your ecosystem.”


Connect with Tigrilla:

tigrillagardenia.com
https://www.facebook.com/tigrillagardenia/
https://www.instagram.com/tigrillagardenia/

For more resources on becoming quietly visible, join The Visible Introvert Community: serenalow.com.au.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a 5-star review so more introverts and quiet achievers can discover the show!

This episode was edited by Aura House Productions

SPEAKER_02:

Hi, I'm Serena Lo. If you are used to hearing that introverts are shy, anxious, antisocial, and lack of good communication and leadership skills, then this podcast is for you. You're about to fall in love with a calm, introspective, and profound person that you are. Discover what's fun, unique, and powerful about being an introvert and how to make the elegant transition from quiet achiever to quiet warrior in your life and work, anytime you want, in more ways than you imagined possible. Welcome. Hello and welcome. Today's guest on the Quiet Warrior Podcast is Tigria Gardinia, a nature-inspired mentor and certified life coach. She empowers multi-passionate alternative thinkers to harness their brilliance and overcome self-doubt through deep collaboration with the plant world. Combining over 25 years of experience in the arts, technology, communication, and eco-social innovation, Pigria merges plant neurobiology, ecosystem thinking, community dynamics and esoteric teachings to help you evolve limiting beliefs, unify your passions, and thrive alongside plant collaborators. As host of the Reconnect with Plant Wisdom podcast, Pigria explores the intersection of science, spirituality, and personal growth, revealing how plant intelligence can reshape the way we live, lead, and co-create.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02:

Let's talk about your story. It's very unique. I know when we first spoke about it, I was oh my gosh, I was like so amazed at all the different things you shared. Tell us how you came to do what you do and why does it matter?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, wow, that's a hard question. Just because it's so I could I could go in so many different directions. I'll I'll start with um, I guess, like you said, I have a really unusual background because my background goes from starting in music and engineering and then passing through many different levels. And I um I guess the easiest way to answer it would say I've always had a fascination with the intersection of the arts and the importance of the arts and technology. And at the same time, I do not consider myself like a tech person, although I've always worked in tech. I worked at Microsoft and at Real Networks and the beginning of the internet and video online. And but um, but I've always thought of it more as communication, as a way to uh connect with people and to really look use technology to help us better get in touch with one another. And so, about now, about 14 years ago, I had a chance encounter, as I say, with a plant where I discovered a plant that was making music using a device called the music of the plants. And this device, I live in a place called Dominher, it's one of the largest spiritual communities in the world. It's in northern Italy. And um, this device, which is something that has been developed here since the 1970s, allowed me to hear plants in a way I had never experienced before. And in that encounter, listening to the plant make this music, compose music live, I felt like the plant was speaking with me. I felt like the plant was literally in this relationship that I had never had before. And it was in that moment that I say, my the beginning of my plant reawakening, the understanding that plants are alive and aware and have communication mechanisms and create relationships. And it just started this cascade where I had to know, I had to understand. So I went down the science, you know, plant neurobiology, plant communication, what is it that the scientific world is understanding today about the way plants create and live inside of ecosystems? I was living in community, and plants basically live in community. And so, what could that help me about understanding what it means to create a thriving ecosystem? And it just took me constantly down these rabbit holes of the importance of the arts to help us think outside the box, to help us feel things before we even understand them mentally, the ability for me to sense into different sensations, feelings, and probably sense organs that I have that I don't think about because as humans we're not taught. But if I think about myself as an animal and as a plant, then I do. It just sort of started to open up a world and it made it so that through this relationship, I was able to find my true essence. And that led me down the path of relationships and wanting to work with people one-on-one through this, and how and in groups, and how is it that we could think more like an ecosystem? How do I create an ecosystem that has lots of different relationships where I myself is made made up of so many different parts? And it just when you start to recognize yourself back in as a being of nature, when you reconnect and realize that I am not outside of nature, but when I speak of nature, I'm talking about myself, then the way I see myself and the way I understand who I am changes because now I give myself that space that, oh, wait a minute, if I am natural, regardless of what that means for you, but like if I, if everything I am and everything I do is natural, then what if I don't stop trying to eliminate parts of myself, but instead try to see them through the eyes of how can they be useful to the ecosystem? Where do they fit in? How are these something that can be used strategically? How do I master them, even if they're destructive? Because in an ecosystem, you still have to destroy certain things, right? You have to compost, you have to break down material to create new things. And it just started to broaden. And I think that that's why it's so powerful when we remember that we are nature, it it makes it, it changes the perspective of how I look at myself in the mirror and how I allow others to see me.

SPEAKER_01:

And it opens you up to a new way of understanding.

SPEAKER_02:

It sounds to me like what you're saying is that plant wisdom, plant intelligence has taught you to look at life and at yourself in a broader way, which is suggesting then that currently the way we live, the way a lot of us live, is in a very narrow, self-focused way that doesn't take into account the environment. Is that what we're saying?

SPEAKER_00:

In part, yes. I would say that even I'd I'd slightly shift it, which is yes to the broad. I think we condition ourselves and we are conditioned to see things in absolutes that are often spectrums, to think that there is such a thing as absolute good and absolute raw uh bad, absolute truth and absolute untruth, where in reality it is all about where is that being applied? If I think about a plant that has characteristics, if I just step outside of my humanness, where I again have these categories, and instead I think about a plant that has, you know, spikes. And I think about the spikes from a protective perspective. I might think, oh, well, they only need the spikes if they're in this environment. But spikes also, if you think about a cactus, are used to collect water. They collect the morning dew in a way that you can't do with leaves. So it's not just used for one thing, where I think as humans, we tend to look at, I don't know, my anger, or I tend to look at jealousy, or I tend to look at even, you know, um other kinds of traits that I might have with one narrow focus. And if I and and they get labeled as good and bad. Like if that person has a hot temper, right? They they get very angry very fast. That's already seen as bad. Well, maybe, but there are could be some situations where having that fast reaction and that anger can be extremely protective, could be you helpful, could be something that moves a situation in a way that being slower doesn't. So when I start to think of myself from that natural perspective, I start to see all of the different nuances amongst the things that I am and the things that I do. And it then makes it easier for me to stop looking at this in, this out, this good, this bad, but more of, huh? Okay, I know that when I'm with my, I don't know, grandmother, I shouldn't, you know, these are the best traits to use, but when I'm in a meeting, these are the best traits to use. And I start to give myself more space to completely feel into who I am.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. I love that you talked about absolutes and the spectrum because there's I can think of so many situations where we are very quick to jump to conclusions, very quick to judge people, judge ourselves too, and label something as too much of this, not enough of that, not not good enough, or like you said, this is good and that is bad. But what you're saying is as it's actually about the ecosystem. Where does this fit in? It's about the context and it's also about the purpose. So, where is this useful? And it reminds me of a Chinese proverb that says, if heaven has given me this ability or this gift, then there must be a purpose.

SPEAKER_01:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02:

So we are purpose-built.

SPEAKER_00:

We are, we are, and from when I add, so you know, I went through my technical background and my arts background, but I also have obviously I live in a spiritual esoteric community. I have a very deep spiritual. And we say that, you know, there we are all living each life we live, right, from reincarnation, whether you believe in reincarnation or not. But for us, yes, in that life, I assemble a series of personalities around this core element of my soul. So my soul is always the same soul, right? That's the thing that makes me me. But the personalities that I assemble are specific to that life. And that life, if you look at it from a nature perspective, we call it um a deep pattern. These uh personalities together create a whole series of different interests, uh different abilities, different pieces that connect into my deep pattern, which is my soul. And those are for this life. They will change in my next life because they are specific to what my life needs to experience for my soul to be able to complete its journey. So my soul is has a mission, an overall mission that is connected to the mission of humanity in some way. And every single life I have has a piece of that mission that I have to accomplish. I have to learn something, I have to experience something, I have to do something. It's all there. And so these personalities are all created to help you with that. And again, sometimes I could be a catalyst and sometimes I could be more of, you know, a connector. There's parts of me that are always the same, but there are all these different personality traits that I just need to learn how to modulate, to work with, to experience. And the way I do that is by giving myself the space to try them in their completeness, not just truncating them at the area. It's kind of like hot and cold. Where does one begin and the other one end? It's a it's a range, right? And I need to be able to play within that range in order to be able to achieve what I came here to do.

SPEAKER_02:

I see a parallel between that and the introversion, extroversion spectrum. Sometimes people think, oh, you know, it's a bad thing to be introverted because you're too quiet and you don't speak up enough. And we should all be more confident and we should come out of our shell, we should come out of our comfort zone. But I see it as a spectrum, like what you say. It's like, you know, all these 88 keys on the piano. And if we only played classical music, then we would deprive ourselves of the joy of jazz and pop and you know, all kinds of other kinds of music. So what we actually want is to be more agile, to have more options, to be more flexible.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. And to see the value in it, because I, as you just said, that's another, that's a great one of those examples of what we've labeled kind of good and bad. But introverts have a whole series of superpowers that a person who only allows themselves to say in the extroverted scale will never understand. So we we all need them, we need to experience them. I consider myself somebody who's an extroverted introvert in the sense that I appear to people to be very, very extroverted. But the truth of the matter is that I'm extremely introverted. And when my introvertedness comes out, because I am seen oftentimes as someone who's like very much open, it looks almost mean because I shut down completely in a way that other people can't recognize. It just happened to me two days ago. I went out with a girlfriend of mine. We thought we were going to a certain kind of party, and I had put myself in that mindset. And when I got there, it was a completely different piece. And I just couldn't connect because it wasn't what I needed at the time. So I shut down. I went completely inside of myself and I go into observer mode. So I was observing the dynamics. And there was one person there, with all his good intention, could not understand that this is good for me. Because if I would have attempted to be extroverted, it wouldn't have worked and it wouldn't have given me the nourishment that I needed in that moment. He kept trying to pull me out, like if there was something wrong with me. And I was like, please stop. There is nothing wrong with me. I'm in observation mode. This is what I want. I eventually ended up having to leave because he would not let it go. And I was just like, I know who I am. I know that I am what I'm doing is good for me. And I know that if I try to be extroverted in this moment, I'll be disharmonious with what's happening because that's just not the power and the energy that I need in this moment. And I don't feel like I can give that type of energy to this group. I'm much better observing and I was learning about the people and I was seeing who they were and I was getting to know them so that later on I knew I could connect with them in a completely different way. And the interesting part about it was that this particular person is somebody that I had had a very deep conversation with only a week prior. So it's not like he it was almost as if he couldn't conceptualize the idea that this person who he had had such an in-depth, gregarious conversation with needed something different in that moment. And he labeled it in his mind as bad. And what's what was terrible about it for me was that over time, I probably would have contributed it, not in the extroverted way, but I would have contributed in a different way. And he didn't give me the opportunity to do it because he was just so convinced that this was the right way. And and this is why some learning about ourselves, I felt totally comfortable leaving. No, my friend was like, oh, what are you doing? And I'm like, this is not what I need. I'm super comfortable with who I am to know that I am not in extrovert mode right now. And if people can't be okay with me being an introvert right now, then I just prefer to leave because it's it's not good for either one of us. And I just I it's for me, that's a conquest. That's like, wow, I came home, so grabbed my book, ended up reading myself to sleep. It was a lovely evening of just me. I was like, I told my friend, I'm like, I needed to be with you. I I didn't need this.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. I love that courage, I love that certainty, that conviction of knowing yourself so well that you know exactly what you need in the moment and you're not afraid to advocate for it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and that's what I think. That's another thing that the plants have taught me. From the moment that I stopped labeling myself as too, too much, too intense, too moody, too, oh my goodness, there's so many labels that you can give. The moment that those labels that you start realizing, oh my goodness, that's just me applying myself in the wrong environment or trying to act in a different way than the way that I am in that moment. And my personality is rotating around and giving them space, then it becomes easier to explain. You can't always explain. Like all I could say to him was, please stop. Like, please stop. And he couldn't understand that. So could I have sat there and tried to explain it to him? Not with the personality that I had in that moment. Because again, the introvert can't do that. Like, that's just not where I was. All I could just tell him was please stop. And when he didn't, like you said, feel really comfortable that there's nothing wrong with you. This is just a bad match. And walk away and recognize that your senses are picking up on something. You don't, this is not what you need. And yeah, maybe there's fear of missing out, or sometimes you can take that to the extreme. So I had to check in with myself and talked to, I talked to my friend, and I was like, hey, are you having fun here? She's like, Yeah, I'm like, great, no problem. I'm just gonna go. I wasn't running away, I was running toward the things that I knew I needed in that moment, and that that particular group of people couldn't give it to me.

SPEAKER_02:

That is incredibly liberating and also very empowering to be able to say, I'm not running away from, I'm running towards, and to know that to know what you need in every moment. And you said that that is something that the plants taught you.

SPEAKER_00:

Very much so. Very much because you see it in the way that plants create an ecosystem. And even like I'm looking around right now, I have a series of plants that are living in uh right around me. And I get the privilege of watching, you know, watching kin every single day, little movements that they make, little changes, and recognizing that we are in a relationship. I have the hands because obviously they're in pots. So I have the hands, and it's my job to be in tune with them and their job to be in tune with this environment and with me. And we go back and forth. And that means who needs water, uh, who needs to be moved, but also they themselves. Like I have a form of cactus that moves very much in a day. Like I could see this plant completely like do a turn. And I love watching when the plant needs more sun, when instead they don't need more sun. How does the water affect them? And when is it too much water, and therefore I change my body because I'm trying to use that water in a different way. Like I started to recognize these very small, minute changes that helped me. Better understand that it's not about we sometimes mistake plants as being um uh rigid, as not moving, but instead they're sessile, which means I'm grounded, but I can move in that. And watching these plants as they move to adapt to what's happening, to create an environment that works better for them made it easier for me to start to see that within myself and even within my friends and my clients and such. And then, of course, there's like so many additional layers. Plants have more senses than we do. What happens if I actually have all those same senses and all these things that I'm feeling as overwhelming is just senses that I don't know how to recognize. What happens when I start to recognize those? What happens when I start to think more? Like I'm not where I'm here in my environment, but I can make modifications within the relational field, within the relations that I have around me, minute, small, in order to make myself feel safe, in order to make myself feel comfortable. That means I can be quiet. That means I can be loud. That means I can move. That means I can stay still. Like you start to play more because it starts to feel natural.

SPEAKER_02:

You've mentioned a few times this idea of allowing ourselves space. And then you also said that trees and plants, they do move. We're often told that we are not a tree, we can move. And I think that is that comes from a place of good intention, that um we are more flexible, we have more options than we think we do, and so we don't need to be so rigid in life. But there is a slight difference there, I think, because you say that the tree is grounded, but at the same time, it's interacting with its environment, and it's also taking charge of the setting in which it finds itself. So it is not only responding, it is co-creating, it is playing with, it is adjusting, it's making what you call those minute changes so that it can thrive. And I think that's something we can learn there too. And and what you said is those are very small, you know, little detailed movements, and it's from observation, something that is an introvert superpower, that you've noticed how let's say your cactus has done like a full turn in a day. And that sounds amazing and magical. I've I've never actually sat and watched a cactus.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I think you brought up something really important, which is obviously when I'm thinking about a plant, because they are grounded, because they are sessile, when I when you when they move, it it's in a different scale than the human movement, right? Not just physically, but also over time. Like time approaches different. And for a plant who says, this environment is not good for me, I need to move like the pine trees right now, given some of the global warming that's happening. There are pine trees up on mountainsides that are moving farther north. And with every generation, the new generation happens farther north. And this is a way that plants actually physically move when the environment is no longer conducive to who they are. They slowly start to send the seeds using different powers because plants uh create different types of seeds, seeds that can fly, seeds that burst, depending on what is the need of the plant. And so these trees are starting to send their seeds through all the mechanisms that they use, pollinator relationships, such north, right? And higher into higher ground, really, more than anything, to higher ground. So if I start to apply the principles of this to myself, like you said, I might choose, and I have done that, I have moved physically, right? Let me leave this house or let me leave this country even and such, because that is an option to me. But again, it's what am I moving towards? And it shifts the perspective of first of all, in the environment that I'm in, where how do I deal with what's around me, not ignore it, not run away from it, but try to create the relationship. Because, as you said, plants are independent and interrelated always. They are always adapting to their environment and simultaneously creating it. And the truth is, so are we. We just forget this. Every interaction I have, even the interaction you and I are having, we're both going to walk away changed, right? Both of us, because you've said, you know, things that make me think and I've said things that make you think, just the same as our listeners are going to be changed. So we're always co-creating our environment. And at the same time, I'm also adapting because the things that you said to me, I might have changed something for you, but I'm also going to be adapting because I'm like, ooh, she just said something that makes me think of how to do this differently. Right. So there's this always these two pieces that are happening. That doesn't mean that if I was, if you and I, which is not happening thankfully, but if like you and I were not doing well, that doesn't mean that tomorrow I might never speak to you again, right? Because maybe it's not healthy for me. Maybe there's something that happens. And over time I might, you know, walk into a different direction. And I think that that's that's what we're talking about relating to, I don't deny what's happening inside of this. I don't ignore it. I don't run away from it. On the other hand, I try to try, like uh just like I did at the at that party that I was talking about. I told him, please stop. Like I'm actually in a really good place. I'm just not in a this type of experience place. So I was trying to say to him, I could totally be in this environment if you just allow me to be an introverted person in this environment. It was only after I tried to adapt the environment to what my needs were when I then got comfortable with myself saying, oh no, I'm not just trying to avoid. It's not that I don't like somebody here and I'm not ignoring the problem. I have done my best to create that environment that I chose to leave. That I was like, you know what? I think I'm gonna have a better night with my book than I would here. And so I'm gonna go find my book. Right. So, and I think that that's kind of the way to look at it is I don't ignore what's happening. I don't pretend it's not. On the other hand, I deal with it, I try to deal with it. And if it's still not good for me, and if I can't co-create what I need, then I go and I start my process of okay, I'm gonna move to someplace else that's more conducive to what I need. So it's it's interesting because when it's happening, you kind of almost don't realize it. Although this year for me has been a wonderful year where I've been, um, especially this time of year, I tend to take inventory with my clients also and myself, because for us as Dominhorians, um, it's the end of our Dominorian year at the end of August. So with the beginning of a new year, it's a great time to like take stock. Where am I? How have I and I've seen, and I was just writing about this recently, that wow, how much I've been able to accomplish this year is because of everything that I've become working so closely with plants, like having this feeling so much myself, feeling so much more comfortable. And I have a uh one of my clients that we were going through the same process who was saying the same thing, like how much more enriched her life is, because she's finally getting to the understanding that all these pieces of her are natural, they're normal, they are who she is, and she's learning then how to master them. And it's just such a thrill to kind of look back in hindsight and say, wow, I would have struggled so much in that environment in that party. I would have been trying or miserable or felt guilty or felt bad. And when I walked away, my friend called me and she was like, Did you leave? And I was like, Yeah, I told you. She's like, Oh, I thought you were somewhere else. And I was like, No, I told you I was gonna go. She's like, Oh, okay. And she's like, Are you okay? I'm like, I'm totally fine. She's like, Great, we'll see each other tomorrow. Like, there was no problem in it. And I just feel like that's such a conquest to get to that place. And I feel like it's so important for us as human beings to liberate ourselves from all of those conditioned responses that say, oh, you're supposed to stay because it would be rude to leave, or oh, you're supposed to pretend to uh have fun singing and dancing like they were doing, even though you don't feel it because that's the polite thing, or you know, this is the way that you do it in this way. And once we separate out that, and I can say, Who am I for real? I just feel like we live with so much more ease. I mean, yeah, I guess liberation is the right word. It's like you feel just so much more freedom and so much more comfort.

SPEAKER_01:

This is so good.

SPEAKER_02:

A lot of the myths and the stereotypes around introversion have made me feel as though we have to function inside a very tiny box and we're constantly being told to break out of that box. But maybe what it is is recognizing that we already are a tiny part in an ecosystem that has its own intelligence, has its own rules. And basically what we are invited to do is to notice how we thrive and how others thrive. Because you said independent but also interdependent. So we're adapting, we are co-creating, we are aware of others, we are in observation mode, using all our introverted strengths for the right purpose, noticing the context, noticing when is the right time to use what and doing so without the added layers and the burden of all that guilt and shame and embarrassment and whatever else we say to ourselves and what we allow others to say to us. So also protecting the boundaries, the space around ourselves.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and feeling like you can express that without shame or worry. I I had a call yesterday with one of my students. Um I teach here in Dominher, what our esoteric path. And, you know, this is a person who is he's not, he's he's he's got introverted tendencies. That's kind of more his style. He's very deep, deep, deep thinker, deep feeler type of person. And um he in the group was struggling through something, and it was really interesting because he needs structured team building where or and structured group building, where others in the group are very direct and extroverted. And so for them, they're just chatting all amongst themselves and sharing other feelings and everything like that. So he was uh expressing to us our need, like asking for us to kind of intervene. And I said to him, before I intervene, I'm gonna ask you something. And I know it's a challenge. Can you tell the group what you need? What happens if you were to go to the group and say, hey, I realize that you're all like, I want really want to get to know you, but I need a structure around that. Can we mix a structure in? We have this time every week. Can we do maybe like one week unstructured and maybe one week structured? Because maybe there's some of us that we just need like little breakout rooms. Maybe I need the group to be a little smaller. I I want to get to know you, but I'm realizing that this way doesn't work for me. And that was so challenging for him and to do. But I wanted him to feel, and I told him, I'm like, I want you to feel safe having that conversation with the group. We are supposed to know the group is the hallmark of Dominor. We do we do everything in group. We say that it takes five people to create one human. So, um, because that's you know the whole connection of everything. And so part of that is I'm like, you don't have to feel neither embarrassed or first of all, you don't have to judge anybody else as if you're all they're not, you have to recognize that they don't need this, but you do, and both of them are okay. So before I go and impose it, I'd like for you to try to share it with others. And and I think that this is where hopefully our society will go to, where we can share the different ways we do things. And in trans, uh I'd love to change. Um, I worked with somebody on a project once who was very adamant about, you know, we call um interdisciplinary groups. There, she's like, they're not interdisciplinary, they're transdisciplinary. Every single person has their discipline. Interdisciplinary means that we all have different disciplines. Inter transdiscipline marries, I have my own trait, my own kind of main characteristic. In this case, it was like my working group. Like one was a biologist and the other one a designer and whatever, but we work together as a group. And I think that that's important to be able to say also from like, I'm more introverted, like on the scale, I tend to lean in there, which means I might need extra time to think. I might need, um, I might not speak as much. I might even write instead of speaking. Like there's characteristics. And then even the for this person at the end, we ended up closing the call. And I said to him, just write to me because I know that when he writes, he processes. Where I process by speaking. So I'm just like, I get that you need something different. And so, but if we don't start to speak as if what I have that's different is okay, we won't be able to create those environments together.

SPEAKER_02:

What I'm hearing is the importance and the power of self-advocacy. It's being able to say, I know myself well, I know that these are the settings and the context in which I thrive. And so I'm going to confidently articulate them so that now you are aware as well. And then together let's make something that works for everyone. And you are right. That takes tremendous courage for the introvert, for the deep thinker, for the quiet achiever to actually say that out loud and have someone receive that and become aware of that, which may or may not change the way things are done. But if it's never spoken, then other people are never made aware that this is how you thrive. This is what makes you brings the best out of you. And it's so important for leaders and facilitators and managers of any sort to be aware that this is how some of the team thrives.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. And to give um, I think the other part is to give uh different mediums for that speaking in the sense of there are going to be those of us who are good at verbalizing it, right? Um, I have an online community called the Naturally Conscious Community, and I've purposely built it where we have many different types, not just many different dynamics, many different types of dynamics. We have, you know, uh a monthly gathering where we talk. We also have a weekly writing and creativity group because some people can get deeper into their topics by writing, by creative writing, or by um being able to draw and such, because then that way they don't have to filter through the words in the same way. Um, we have a book club for those that like to do it from an intellectual. I'm gonna learn something and then I'm gonna talk about it. We have meditation for those that want to get it from an esoteric, more mystical type of approach. We have all these different kinds of ways that we experience, plus all the written part, you know, just the fact that it's it's kind of like a mini Facebook on a completely different platform and it's safe because it's all us. And it's been wonderful to see the groups that have formed. Um, we sometimes have people that come to calls and they never speak. But then as soon as the call is over, they'll send like this super long message, you know, of everything that they experienced because that's the way that they, you know, express themselves better. So I do think that we, as a going back to the conditioning, or especially in business, we do have to start to also make more space. And it's a little bit easier in some ways here from the technology is sort of helping in some ways, but I do think that it is important for us to also make space for who communicates in certain ways and giving that um uh the opportunity. I, in my own one-on-one coaching, have my one-on-one calls, but they can be as short as 30 minutes. And I also have a dedicated space that every single one of my clients gets where they can write and I tell them, write to me anytime. I will moderate, like when I read it. I might not respond right away, but it might take me a day. But know that you can write. And even if it's your processing, because you might not have used the time in our session to verbally process it, you might have taken that more to listening or to being in the energy. And maybe it's afterwards that you've processed it and you write, you can draw, you can leave me voice messages. Like that space there is for you to use in your own way. And since I work with a lot of neurodivergent and multi-passionate people, I often say, My goal is for you within your bubble to create the way that you process. And then you we create an what's what I what's called an ecotone. It's the space between two ecosystems where you learn how to give whatever it is that you have to the next person. So that person also has their own ecosystem, their own way of doing things. And you want to create a space in between, whether it's as a business group, whether that's between friendships, even within, you know, your own relationships. This is the space where you and I exchange information. But inside of my bubble, I do things however the heck my mind works. And it's that ecotone where I have to learn how to adapt and transform. And I have to share with you. And we have to, like you said, work together to come with a way that works both for us. But within my bubble, please don't tell me how to do my things. I might have paper list, I might have digital list, I might have a messy desk or a clean desk. All of that is mine. And I should do it however works for me. And we just need to work on that little ecotone where our two community, our two ways interact so that we can do that.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that. I love that we talk about the importance of the bubble, which is so important for introverts. And I'm just a hundred percent expressing myself authentically because I don't have to mask, I don't have to pretend, I don't have to conform. And every one of us deserves that bubble. And I agree with you that no one should be telling someone else to come out of their comfort zone or come out of their shell because that just sounds really judgmental. As though I know better. And someone else while they where they feel most comfortable and safe. And and I love your description of that as an eco-tone, that space between the two beings who have their own intelligence, their own wisdom, their own experiences. And how can we relate and how can we communicate in more in a variety of ways? I think it's also that noticing that observation mode or the attention to detail, the introvert's ability to see the small things that other people may miss out. Oh, so that's how she likes to communicate. So therefore, let me adjust the way I tell her things, the way I convey information, so that she can receive it in the way that's right for her.

SPEAKER_00:

Correct. Yeah, exactly. And it is important for both people to share so that again, you adapt. Yes, I want to adapt to the others, but the other needs to adapt to me too. So we need that's why the ecotone is about what why it's not me just doing things for you. That ecotone is a place where we can experiment. Ecotones in nature, a beautiful ecotone is the beach, right? A beach is the space between land and water. And in that area of an ecotone always has the most amount of innovation. It's the area of most fervent type of growth and experimentation, because again, the organisms that are in there know that they're transitioning, know that there's a transitioning happening between two spaces. And so if we were to think about that, a team is an eco is an ecotone to a certain extent between all these others, that each one of us has our way. It means we all have to give and take a little bit. And that means recognizing the value, as you said, in what everybody does. It's not that I look at the introvert and say, oh, uh, you're quiet, so you don't have anything to say. I think, oh no, wait, this person is quiet, which means they're deeply processing information and probably seeing things that in my speed and haste, I don't see. So I want to make sure that I give space to that, knowing that it's might arrive a little bit later than the way my mind thinks. So, what do I do to capture that? Right. Do I create a system that uh a post-meeting like board or a document or something? And then I know that they're gonna give it to me, but I also they know they can't give it to me like three weeks late. They can't just sit on it. So you start to look at each other's strengths and try to help each other kind of bridge that gap between them. And for me, being that my sole kind of element is a bridge, it's like I can ease, I can see it easier. So I understand that it's harder for people to see that. But and and that's why I love working one-on-one with people, because when in that one-on-one space, when somebody comes to me and they say, Oh, uh, I need to be more, I don't believe in discipline. But when they're like, How do you do, I don't know, task management? And I'm like, first of all, it doesn't really matter how I do task management. Tell me how you do this, this, this, this, and this. And then let's see how all of that flows into a task management system that, for example, mine is multi, some digital, some paper, some in notebooks, some in my head. Like, I don't pretend to think I can keep it in one way. So we want to just find the ways that works for you. And that all starts with how do I help you get comfortable enough with who you are? Again, not in hiding, but in not running and like running towards instead of running away. How do you get comfortable enough in who you are that then you can see where you meet somebody else?

SPEAKER_02:

What is one thing you want our introverted listeners to take away today from our discussion?

SPEAKER_00:

That there's nothing wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with you. That's that every single trait that you have is absolutely a superpower in and of itself. And all we have to do is uh figure out where it shines most. That I feel is like the most important thing. All of these rules people have tried to tell you that you need to be this, that, and the other, throw it all out the window. The best that anybody could ever ask of you is for you to be your most amazing self. And if that amazing self is the person who reads 75 books in a week because you don't want to talk to humans, you are my library. Like I want you like around me, or whatever that might be, right? It might be however it is that you express yourself, it's all about just finding where that works best. I say that it's about the where, like in what circumstance, how much of it to use. In other words, like where do I, how do I modulate so I learn how to work with whatever this skill is? And then, you know, the how is it that I put it into place? And once you start to work on these pieces, the whole world opens because now you're operating from a, okay, I have a bunch of skills and talents and you know, value that I bring. And it's just a matter of discovering how I can connect my value to the other person's value.

SPEAKER_02:

And what is the best way, tigria, for people to connect with you and work with you?

SPEAKER_00:

Luckily, having an unusual name makes it pretty easy. So I'm pretty much tigria gardenia everywhere. Like on my website is just tigria gardenia, all one word.com. My Facebook, my Instagram, my LinkedIn, my um my YouTube, it's all Tigria Gardenia. It's always the same. So it makes it really simple. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02:

That consistency is so helpful. So thank you so much, Tigree of today, for sharing your time and your wisdom about the plant world and about the intelligence that we are not aware of, but we should be more aware of. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to leave a five-star rating and review to help the Quiet Warrior Podcast reach more introverts and quiet achievers around the world. And for resources on how to thrive as an introvert, make sure to join the Visible Introvert community at serenaloe.com.au. See you on the next episode. I'm so grateful that you're here today. If you found this content valuable, please share it on your social media channels and subscribe to the show on your favorite listening platform. Together we can help more introverts thrive. To receive more uplifting content like this, connect with me on Instagram at Serenalo Quiet Warrior Coach. Thank you for sharing your time and your energy with me. See you on the next episode.