 Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons. Even their names are indicative of why I love them: the movement and transformation. The colors are intoxicating and stop me in my tracks over and over. Yet, both seasons are such a time of grasping for me. I'm enraptured by the blooms and want them to stay forever, perpetually bursting with life. That's not how it works though. As with all things, we must honor the life/death/life cycle. The growth of spring isn't only in watching it burst open, but also in learning to love it while it's here and embrace the transformation as it shifts into the next phase, the next season of life.
In Buddhism, cherry blossoms symbolize the transience of life: a tragically short, but brilliant and necessary blossoming forth, and a reminder that life is fleeting. By now we know that Spring won't last. The blooms will transition to green and the flowers will fall back to the dirt. We are asked to witness and revel in her beauty, live fully and appreciatively, and then let her go softly as her time to die arrives. It all just leads to the next phase of LIFE. The cycles of nature teach us about ourselves. We are not so different from the trees, but we can learn from their generous giving and their quietly letting go. Can we bloom to our most beautiful selves and understand that our budding open means we absolutely must transition to the next phase of our journey, even if it isn't characterized by a soft and delicate flower, but instead by the sharp fire of transformation? It's all growth and it all must happen just as it does. When we flow with these cycles, the suffering diminishes. We will explore our relationship to the wisdom of Mother Nature this June at the Women's Weekend in the Woods, a yoga and camping exploration for women looking to empower themselves and gracefully blossom into the next phase of their beautiful lives. Join us?
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I just signed up for an Ayurvedic Spring Cleanse. As in, I just did it like 5 minutes ago. I’d been considering it, talking about it, and procrastinating actually doing it, but then I looked at my calendar and said “I’m going to start tomorrow”. So without having any ceremonious last cup of coffee or glass of wine, I just agreed to cut them both from my life for 3 weeks. Without reviewing my calendar to determine if there were any special events coming up, I decided I would eat as directed for 21 days.
Honestly, I’m pretty freaked out and terrified, and also surreally shocked by my unplanned commitment. It’s really unlike me to jump without having a fully researched background on what I’m jumping towards (not to be confused with having solid expectations of how things will turn out, which I don’t do). I’m reminded of the poem She Let Go by Rev. Safire Rose. This is exciting. It’s even sort of fulfilling my perpetually present wanderlust, as though I’m taking a leap of faith into something new. Chills run up my spine as I consider the growth that sits patiently waiting on the other side of the challenge. That’s what it’s about after all – the quick growth that comes from diving feet first into my boundaries. Wish me luck. The catalyst for this was realizing that my coffee habit has once again slipped into addiction behavior and I don’t feel good about it anymore. I’ve been here before and I know the struggle, but I know I can get back to the point where coffee is a treat or ritual rather than a necessity. Coffee and I will take some much needed space to reconsider and redefine our relationship, and in 21 days we can hopefully come to meet each other in a healthier way. If you're interested in joining me for this cleanse, I’d love some accountability/misery partners. She Let Go She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go. She let go of the fear. She let go of the judgments. She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head. She let go of the committee of indecision within her. She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons. Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go. She didn’t ask anyone for advice. She didn’t read a book on how to let go. She didn’t search the scriptures. She just let go. She let go of all of the memories that held her back. She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward. She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right. She didn’t promise to let go. She didn’t journal about it. She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer. She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper. She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope. She just let go. She didn’t analyze whether she should let go. She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter. She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment. She didn’t call the prayer line. She didn’t utter one word. She just let go. No one was around when it happened. There was no applause or congratulations. No one thanked her or praised her. No one noticed a thing. Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go. There was no effort. There was no struggle. It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad. It was what it was, and it is just that. In the space of letting go, she let it all be. A small smile came over her face. A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore. |
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