The Hope of Spring

In like a lion and out like a lamb so says the adage about March. For me, March brings hope, possibilities, evolution, transformation. Spring comes to the northeast US in March and my crocuses pop up in their purples and yellows. The daffodil shoots grow tall and the buds begin to come out of their dormant stage on my flowering shrubs.  It signals the sleep of the cold of winter has left and new birth emerges bringing with it hope. 

I am so connected to the change of the seasons for the lessons we can learn from each one. Winter is a time of quiet, introspection, reflection. I’ve used this winter as a time of meditation, journaling, seeking, and learning. I set my intentions for the year and began a spiritual journey in earnest. Winter always remains a quieter time for me. The nestling inside, cozy by the fireplace, brings comfort while I reflect on where I’ve been and what I want in this time. Plans get designed for the goals I want to achieve. All this is done in time for the blossoming that is sure to come. 

By taking the time to go deep inside and find those places that need healing during the winter, I can begin to celebrate them with the warmth of the spring thaw. I choose to embrace the transformation to a newer, improved version of myself. The horizon looks much improved, I can see more clearly where I want to go. Who I want to be. These last few months have been work and it is time to let me go free.

I believe that we are always a work in progress, just like my garden. It has been a labor of love for over 35 years. There have been years I couldn’t do very much and it got overgrown and messy. Some parts of it died off and others pushed through despite the lack of care. There have been years where a complete overhaul was needed. Sometimes, the flowers spread wider so there are bigger patches of color. Some plants grow taller like the shrubs whose branches grow in length each season. Some take their time to bloom and others just pop forth one day in a profusion of color and scent, and then are gone as quickly. I have learned that the tending and nurturing given to my flowers always results in magic. 

This certainly describes my own journey of me. It hasn’t always been a labor of love but I have now come to the place where I know it is important to tend to me and allow my truest self to emerge and blossom. Some things have taken a long time to heal and accept. Some stories have been so ingrained in me that it has been hard to release them, gain a new perspective on them. I’ve stopped thinking of myself as a “not nice” person and recognize that my way of caring is private, and by taking care of me, I have filled my well so that I can give to others. My introverted Projector self drains quickly and I’ve come to honor it.  

There have been “aha” moments that erased shadows quickly. It became really clear to me with the passing of my mom and the gathering of my siblings that we all have stories of who we are and how we fit in that keep us apart. It is such a joy to reconnect with them as adults, on new terms, and leave the imbalance of childhood behind.

One thing that I have truly come to understand is that I am always growing, and no matter how bleak it may seem, just like the promise of spring, I will get through whatever is handed to me. I know that I need to consciously self-nurture, not thinking of it as a luxury for once in awhile, but as a necessity to keep me at my optimal best. I need to let me garden lessons be clear and use them as I tend to myself. My journey of spring will take the lessons of winter and bring them forth to consciousness, to be claimed as my power, to be nurtured as I evolve into the best of me.

This spring, how will you claim your power? How will you encourage your truest self to blossom? What nurturing of yourself will you commit to? I suggest that you take some time to walk among the flowers as they emerge from winter, and as you observe their color and scent, let them tell you about your emerging self.  The crocuses don’t want to be daffodils and the daffodils don’t try to be tulips. What have you learned that brings you joy in just being you?

That’s the hope of spring. This is why I truly love March. It resurrects hope of beauty and love, and belief in a Supreme Being, a Divine Guardian, a Source from whom all love and light glows, and I am energized to take bigger steps on this journey of life.