Seasons of the Soul

Springing Free

 

 

It’s nearing mid Spring, and in California we see the beginning of summer. We’ve watched the buds come into flower and the seeds we’ve planted growing into what they will become. In the next season, we’ll be able to harvest some of the results of our labor.

In Winter, it’s seasonally a time for shutting down and going within—it’s the province of internal review and inward vision. Depression is associated with winter, and there are benefits to allowing ourselves to go into the heart of our angst during that season. But Spring is a season of renewal.

It’s a time for us to find reasons for optimism and to bring the fragrance of our journey forward. That might involve clearing out things that have gotten in our way. Using our insights from Winter, we have an opportunity to do spring cleaning—externally as well as internally. Time to plant and nourish new seeds and watch them develop. The focus is on ways of allowing the inner sunshine to warm our hearts and minds—making space for illumination to dawn and find welcome.

Nature is a wonderful reminder of how beneficial each season is—and how the gifts of one season reflect and contribute to the success of the next. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is out of order.

Nature has an impeccable scheduling for bringing balance into what would otherwise be a chaotic world. Even during times of “unseasonable” events, nature always re-calibrates and comes back to order. We have the same internal mechanism to bring us back to a balanced state if we will work with ourselves from core level.

Spirit/soul/body are integrally linked, and when we leave one aspect out of the quotient, we lose connection to the natural order—the harmonizing factors that bring us through the journey matured and intact. The phases we experience are natural adjuncts to our development through the seasons. As humans, our cycles may vary somewhat from the seasonal ordering within nature. But we are subject to the same laws of birth, growth, and decay.

Finding clues within this season and harmonizing our own energy to it can aid us in developing a rhythm and communion. We are not fighting externals—we are flowing with them.

Spring is a time of liberation. We have an opportunity to free our spirits to soar in new ways. Enthusiasm can be re-instilled as we view life re-emerging all around us. What seemed dead is not. It was only waiting for the right time to emerge. So, us.

What hopes, dreams, and aspirations have we been incubating during the winter months? What seeds are calling out for nourishment in order to bring themselves into full bloom and productivity? And what unexpected glimmerings arise unbidden that catch us by surprise?

Spring is a freeing time. We can leap forward, even if only in our minds. It’s time!

Coming in for a Landing

 

A friend from Wisconsin told me a story about a flock of Canadian Geese that were coming in for a landing in February outside her window at the river below.

She stopped to watch as they put out their feet to land in the water, only to find that what they were landing on was ice. They tumbled and slid as they hit the ice, flapped wings, banging into one another, and set up a thunderous honking noise as they struggled to come to a stop. She said it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen, and I laughed, too. The mental imagery was comical.

It got me thinking about how important it is to know what we’re jumping into. As the geese prepared for water, the approach was far different than it would have been had they known they were going to land on something solid. You can visualize that in your own mind. One approach has you ready to jump into something fluid, thereby maintaining speed and pushing yourself forward. The other has you gently lowering yourself so that your feet touch lightly upon the ground. Each approach is appropriate for the respective landing site. But when we use the wrong approach, the results can be painful. The geese demonstrated a basic law of physics, and it was funny.

How many times can we look to our own lives where we have mistakenly come in for a landing without full knowledge of what we were jumping into, only to fall on our faces, or do our best to maintain dignity in the face of a mistaken approach?

Like the geese, we might be tempted to honk loudly, but as humans we have the capacity to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. That’s the beauty of the journey. We get so many opportunities to do things again and again to refine our understanding of what is needed, and if we’re fortunate enough to learn from our mistaken approaches, we can calibrate our response so that we choose the landing pattern for each situation that will be just right.

Opening New Doors of Perception

 

 

One day I watched the Pet Psychic on television. I’d never seen the program before. The woman who communicates with animals had some fascinating things to say about them, and reiterated how accepting and loving of us they all are, including snakes!

As I got ready for bed, there was a program on the radio with Jean Houston, renowned mythic investigator and workshop leader. Lo and behold, her talk was about animals and the position they hold in life. It isn’t one of being inferior to us, but of being from a different tribe.

Houston said that indigenous people always refer to the Animal Nation, the Plant Nation, etc. In essence, they see each of the groups within life as part of the same system, each coming with unique gifts.

As we alter our view to incorporate a more inclusive vision, we have important things to teach and learn from one another. This takes us out of an exploitive mentality, and opens amazing possibilities. For those of you who have had close relationship with your animal or plant friends, you know what this means.

It may be time to open a new door of perception to the rest of creation and see where it might lead us!

 

Weathering Atmospheric Conditions

 

 

 

During winter and early spring, we are often confronted by grey skies. Rain, snow, or blustery conditions may bombard us with relentless and seemingly endless ferocity. But if we were to fly in an airplane, we would cut through the clouds and find that beyond the storm is blue sky.

The weather is a condition stirred by something in the atmosphere. Above the clouds and threatening conditions is clear blue sky, untouched by the storms at lower atmospheric levels. Beyond the night storms resides a blanket of twinkling lights as the planets and stars exist and persist regardless of conditions in our own earth’s atmosphere.

So it is with us. Depending on our emotions, physical well-being and mental outlook, we experience a lot of “weather”, but the truth beyond is clarity residing in an untroubled mind.

Just like weather, the doubts, fears, and distortions that besiege us are usually momentary, and generally caused by “atmospheric” conditions within our own lives. We may experience periods of “winter”, but as in nature, spring must come again. As we are able to distil experience and sort through what is transitory, we can come back to the blue skies of ourselves. And as in the moments of storm, good may come as a result…just as in the natural world. After all, without the rain, there would be no growth, and nothing to bloom.

 

In the Garden

 

 

 

It’s really a lot of fun to get into the planting spirit. One thing I love is to scatter wildflowers throughout the unstructured parts of my garden because then I’m always surprised as to what comes up. It’s like looking as a child upon the discovery of a new plant. I didn’t plan it, I don’t remember planting it, but there it is! And then beyond that...waiting to see if it is a “real” flower/bush or a weed.

I have one section of my garden that has been landscaped. We have a perfectly lovely and orderly collection of plants, fruit trees, and raised vegetable bed. I love looking at it. Everything is in place, and it pleases me to see the orderly growth. However, the “wild” garden is alive with surprise, and teeming with life of all persuasion. The weeds and flowers grow happily alongside, and lo and behold, up from the amazing earth come these strange little seedlings. I wait with great curiosity to see what they are.

Life is sort of like that wildflower garden. It’s not always orderly or predictable, but if we can look upon it with surprise and awe...it might amaze us!

To Refine One's Character

 

 

One day I got some Chinese herbs, and the herbalist was commenting that according to Taoism when times of turmoil, uncertainty, and chaos prevail in the external world, it is important for us not to be drawn into that...but to retreat into the center of ourselves and refine our nature. We have an unparalleled opportunity during conflict to do this when we aren’t polarized by life events.

As we watch many things in our world going through upheaval right now, I believe there is something much grander at work, and my own discomfort and distress is because I cannot see the bigger picture. The uncertainty of this moment is the fodder for something yet to come, and because I'm living in a finite body, I want my projected images of peace, stability, and a healthy world to happen now...but I only have a lifespan of 60-80 years in which to see it flower. That may not match universal timing, so I need to trust that everything is moving as it should, and also realize that new birth often involves pain. In addition, when this body is shed that I identify with now, the “I” that I really am will continue. So there need be no frustration, no despair, and no depression at lack of momentary resolution. That is only my limited viewpoint wailing.

Understanding this helps me to trust in life during times that appear hopeless or confusing, and it makes me aware of what our parents and grandparents had to endure during the plague of 1918, the depression of the 1930’s, and the horrors of WWII. From our vantage point now those events seem surreal. Yet, the people who survived were strengthened, and the world changed in ways that allowed for new growth. Once again we are faced with major challenges - another cycle to propel us to new possibilities.

We have character building times ahead. As we heed the concept of going within to refine ourselves, we can ride through the storms that appear and be ready for the opportunities that emerge. Winter comes…it always comes; yet indeed, Spring always follows!

 

Virtue of Imperfection

 

A water bearer in India had two large pots. Each hung on opposite ends of a pole which he carried on his shoulders.. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of it's accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

 After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value for your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

~Author Unkown

Into Bloom

 

 

I was working in my garden and marveled at how after winter things grow that I never planted. It’s as though all of life competes for space to show itself, making me smile. During the past year, I didn’t have much time for my garden, and much of it was flat and seemingly “dead”. It was easy to think that nothing would ever grow again because the ground was barren. Yet beneath the soil were the seeds of lush greenery and intriguing wildflowers just waiting for the water that would bring them back to life. They had gone underground. They hadn’t died. And how many times do we feel barren and washed up? How often do we look at the evidence of lack and believe that is our lot forever? Yet, like the garden, when we least expect it, inspiration may strike, conditions change, and we are brought again into glorious bloom.

Quick Stress Reducers for People on the Go

 

 

Recently I saw a show on television that spoke of the stress we experience in today’s technological world, filled with over-stimulus and constant bombardment of noise in the guise of communication. The doctor who spoke of the problem also gave some methods for dealing with stress and creating more harmony within the body. She cited three possibilities.

1. When you feel tense, pause for a moment and do this simple exercise: Breathe in to the count of 4 through your nose. Hold the breath for the count of 7, and breathe out through your mouth to the count of 8. Repeat this 4 times, and then breathe naturally. It lowers blood pressure and heart rate, and brings a natural tranquilizing effect to the body.

2. Imagine yourself in a place that you enjoyed thoroughly. This can be a vacation setting that gave you joy, or any other place within nature where you felt at peace and connected. Do not just think this image, feel it in your body. As you do, it will lower your blood pressure, and drop the heart rate by 20%

3. Practice laughing. Laughter is used in China therapeutically, and offers a cardio-vascular workout while also releasing endorphins.

These natural methods for releasing tension have mind/body benefits and are enjoyable as well. We may live and work in stressful environments, but we have the ability to do things to make our lives more harmonious no matter where we are.

Gratitude

 

 

 

I noted one day when I was busy castigating some aspect of my life that anger and resentment truly do beget more of the same. In a moment of determination, I chose to spend my mental energy on finding things for which to be grateful, interrupting the litany of negatives that were beginning their daily journey through my head.

 “Thank you for my wonderful life.” “Thank you for my good health.” “Thank you for my loving relationship, for my children, my family, my friends.” Soon I was expanding and refining my list of things for which to be grateful. And a funny thing happened. As I began focusing on what was going right in my life rather than what was wrong, more right began to occur. I also noted that I was happier. I felt appreciation for small things, and looked forward to what I could accomplish, rather than complaining about what I was not getting done.

 The simple act of refocusing...of reframing my thinking patterns has brought a great deal of inner peace. In conjunction with gratitude for all the good in my life, I realize that in the quotient also must come gratitude and appreciation for myself as I am.

 We are all set on this journey, and perhaps the quest is not to find the ideal life, but to appreciate the one we’ve been given. As we gain self-acceptance, we can appreciate others more. And each act of gratitude, appreciation, and acceptance draws us closer to the center of what the heart yearns for and for which we have each been created—the ability to love.