"Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again."
-- Sarah Ban Breathnach
No doubt spring has sprung and the lessons it brings are prolific if we are open to seeing how they may apply in our own lives. Just as there are seasons of the year, we too are subject to our own personal seasons. There is little doubt that the seasons of the year can have a deep-seated effect on our personal seasons. Might you be willing to see how the pending season of spring can serve you as a master teacher? Perhaps it's a lesson regarding your physical health, a relationship, or even your career. If you are open to experiencing a sense of self-renewal anywhere in your life in the months to come, read on. The spring equinox has a gift for you if you are willing to receive it.
In the northern hemisphere March 20 brings the equinox, which marks the start of spring; for thousands of years it has been celebrated as a time of rebirth and renewal. With a bit of mindfulness, aligning with the energy of the spring equinox offers you an opportunity to consciously enter the flow of life with grace and ease, trusting and knowing that you don't have to force new life-affirming growth to happen -- you simply need to be open and available -- to be the place where it happens.
I just returned from an early-morning walk in my meditation garden and I made some observations that I would like to share with you. Everything is just beginning to bloom; each tree is showing signs that the fruit it was uniquely created to manifest is on the way; likewise, each rosebush that was severely pruned back just months ago is now thriving, revealing the unique beauty of the flowers it was meant to share with the world -- it's a profound and mystical thing to witness. The amazing thing was, as I sat in the quiet among the fruit trees, palm trees, and various kinds of flowers and roses, I listened and I watched closely -- not once did I hear or see even one of these beautiful expressions of life, grunt, push, strain, manipulate, or otherwise try to force its fruit or flowers to grow.
"Sit quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself."
-- Zen proverb
By simple observation it is clear to see that everything in nature has its own rhythm -- its own way of trusting the vital life force that sustains it. The energy of life moves like a river going wherever gravity beckons its flow -- we can no sooner push the flow of life than we can push the river. It appears that every living thing grows in its own time without any effort -- by just opening to the flow and being what it was created to be. The lesson here is that when we are established in an awareness of our oneness with life we enter a sacred vortex of "spiritual gravity" that draws to us that which is required to serve our wholeness -- it flows freely to us and through us in purposeful ways, accompanied by a deep knowing that we are sustained with effortless grace and ease. The universe conspires for the good of all living things when they are open to its innate wisdom and the natural pulsations of its gentle, expansive, and eternal gift of life. Why? Because all living things matter; the practice is to remember is that this also includes us.
When I compare how nature "does life" with such effortless grace and ease, with how we, on the other hand, so often struggle, thinking we have to force or push things in a specific direction to create a fruitful and rewarding life worth living, I have to chuckle. Life flows, we need not try to push it. When you stop to think about it, that is often what we do, isn't it? Out of our own need to control we attempt to defy "gravity" -- we resist the manner, pace and direction in which life naturally wants to progress. We do it with our relationships. We do it with our finances. We even do it with our bodies. Sometimes we try so hard to make (manipulate) things go (grow) in the direction we want them to before they are naturally ready to move, we end up short-circuiting our own good by not honoring the same infinite intelligence within us that does such a great job in the garden. Often we tend to think of "resistance" as pushing against "what is" in the moment, but resistance can also be found in the act of pushing "what is" aside or forward in a manner that indicates we want something to change, grow, or manifest before its time has come. If we pay attention, one of the greatest lessons the four seasons of the year offer us is the wisdom of patience -- the subtle energy of life that knows only perfect timing; patience is the invisible link between each season that effortlessly unifies them, seamlessly, one to the other.
The blessing of this season is that it announces the coming of light; as we emerge from the darkness of winter, we naturally enter the light of spring -- and with light comes the ability to see what lies before us differently, through new eyes. That is what the season of renewal does; it casts new light on what was, what is, and more important, what can be. Patience, laced with faith, seems to be the practice when it comes to growing anything worthwhile, including a renewed version of ourselves. As you enter the season of spring, may you make a point of remembering that you are one with something infinitely greater than yourself and it knows what it is doing. Certainly if it knows how and when to unfold the beauty and grace that it is through a rose, It knows how and when to unfold the beauty of a life worth living through and by means of you; yours is to faithfully align with it and step into the new light it brings, trusting and knowing that you are the place where transformation is happening.
Now take a deep breath and smile -- here comes a new day, and it's got your name all over it.
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