April 1, 2019

An Opening for Rebirth

                 I don’t think I’m alone in this phenomenon, but I actually experience a strong visceral reaction to the awakening within my body, heart, and spirit the first moment that I’m aware that Spring has dawned.  I can identify some of the signals that trigger my reactions:  the increasing warmth of the sun, the music of birdsongs, the gentleness of the wind, the blue skies with puffy white clouds, etc.  The feelings that we’re entering a new Season are instantaneous.  I don’t have time or a need to deliberate this happening – it just takes place.

                The experience is accompanied by a sense of new possibilities, awakenings and increased awareness of the opportunities to entertain new intentions.  A quote from Harriet Ann Jacobs summarizes my experience:  “The beautiful spring came; and when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.”

                The Winter Season for me is one that I associate with all of the positive aspects of “nesting.”  It’s a time where I feel like I have more time to read and reflect and to experience deeper levels of solitude and quietness.  I’m indoors much more and not cleaning out the gardens, planting, cutting the grass or raking leaves and bedding down the gardens for winter.  That said, I don’t think of Winter as a time of laziness, although I think afternoon naps on cold winter days are a must indulgence.

                Over time and through trial and error, I’ve more or less internalized a clock of when is the best time to tackle certain projects in order to accomplish the ongoing chores that lead to a less stressful and more even-keeled rhythm for enjoying my leisure time and for achieving my goals.  After Christmas day, I welcome the next week or two as a time to enjoy the delights of the Christmas Holiday Season at a more relaxed pace. 

                Sometime after the tree is down, I start making a mental list of the indoor chores that I would like to have accomplished before April when I am called outside to begin preparing the gardens for planting and hosting the coming season’s perennial adornments.  I use the phrase “spring cleaning” to reference the extra cleaning projects that I take on between January and the end of March.  I grew up in the Midwest and folks there at the time of my childhood were definitely serous about spring cleaning.  My family would empty each room and wash down the walls, woodwork, and the floor before washing and polishing all of the furniture in the room.  Cleaning a bedroom was an all-day event.  The mattresses, bed springs and frames were all carried outside to “air.”  All of the bedcovers were washed, hung out in the spring air to dry before being returned inside.  Curtains and windows were washed, the storm windows were taken down and the window screens were washed and installed.  

                Trust me: I don’t go to this extent in my version of “spring cleaning.”  I actually dust (I am an advocate of the statement that proudly proclaims “I dust twice a year whether it needs it or not”) and I do a much more intensive vacuuming of each room beyond my weekly version of a “lick and a promise.”  I do wash the woodwork and polish the furniture.  Most importantly for me, I go through all of my closets, storage areas, and bookshelves to identify what I no longer have a reason to keep.

                It’s this stage of “spring cleaning” – the act of re-homing the things I no longer have a reason to keep – that contributes to a sense of shedding that leads to a sense of “molting” as I prepare for new growth.  I’ve been attracted to the Nautilus shell for some time, as I love the description of how it grows into newer versions of itself.   I shared my layperson’s explanation of the Nautilus in an earlier Blog, and it reads as follows:       As the Nautilus grows and matures, its body moves forward into a new chamber.  When this occurs, the prior chambers are sealed off. The last chamber, which is the largest chamber, is used as the living chamber.

                In my present state of mind, I would amend this description to read:  As the Nautilus grows and matures, its body moves forward into a new chamber.  When this occurs, information from the prior chambers is reviewed and becomes integrated into the next phase. The last chamber, which is the largest chamber, is used as the living chamber.

                In other words, as we grow and evolve, especially if you are a proponent of Erik Erickson’s Stages of Development, we have the opportunity to revisit unresolved issues in our lives from earlier stages or chambers of development.  The process of revisiting those issues from a more adult and enlightened perspective allow us to become a more integrated individual.  So we’re not actually “sealing off” the earlier parts of our lives; instead we’re bringing forward the more valuable information and leaving the rest behind us.

                I remember an occasion in which I ran into one of my previous Executive Assistants on the train to work, and in our conversation in which we talked about what we were each doing for work, she said to me, “You are always so good about re-inventing yourself.”  I was struck by the comment at the time, and while I felt that she meant it as a positive affirmation, I wasn’t fully prepared to accept whether or not “reinventing oneself was a good thing.” 

                I now understand the comment in a more positive way.  I think it has to do with the concept of rebirth.  I define rebirth in this context as the opportunity to pause, take stock of where one is in one’s life, and to step back and set some new intentions that we believe will help us achieve the vision that we are currently seeking in our lives.

                In short, I think it is a very good thing to do.  Why continue down the same paths and engage in the same routines that we don’t believe are getting us to the level of wholeness and happiness that we desire, and that don’t reflect our values and the quality of life that we have decided is dearest to our hearts.

                “Spring” is a great name for the season that follows Winter, which as I’ve described is a nesting time for me.  Time for reflection, time for an extended peaceful, quiet stretches in which I can begin the process of “shedding” what I no longer need or that isn’t working for me.  So when the combo of “spring fever” qualities hits, my body moves from this restful quiet state to one that is eager and ready to tryout some new directions, small and large.

                As I’ve noted in other Blogs, I no longer think in terms of resolutions, instead I think in terms of intentions. What do I want to try and accomplish going forward…intentions are my pathways to achieving what I envision as rewarding and worthwhile.

                Here’s what I’ve learned through my yoga and spiritual practices.  If one is not mindful of how one releases these newfound sources of energy in one’s life, one can burn out pretty quickly.  I’ve learned that I benefit from reminding myself that “I don’t need to achieve my intentions all at once.” For example, spring yard clean-up is a must as one prepares the gardens for returning and new plantings.  Depending on the kind of winter we’ve had, and the amount of leaves and fallen branches that have accumulated over the winter months, there is a fair amount of work to be done in preparation for new growth.  

This year, it occurred to me to set a specific goal for how much work I would do in the gardens each time I engaged in the clean-up work.  This may sound like a simple idea, and it is, but it has produced powerful results for me.  For the first time that I can remember, I am not minding the raking, bagging leaves, carting the materials to the town’s recycling center. 

What is working for me is that: a) I don’t get overtired; b) Choosing where to begin is important – I concentrate on starting with the areas I know will have the biggest impact on me– like being able to look out my kitchen window and enjoy the work I have accomplished; and c) Knowing that I am only undertaking this work for a limited amount of time on each excursion, I am able to be more fully present and actually enjoy the work.

I share my insights and experience with you as I think there are multiple ways that we can apply learnings in one area of our lives to other areas.  Being alert to this Season as an accomplice to activities that lead to rebirth makes me more open to seeing opportunities to explore new beginnings or pathways.  Modulating my use of the new energies allows me to stay more present and to attend to balance in my life.  And as I engage in this work, I get to try out some of my new intentions to see how well they are landing in my life.

Years ago, I was under the uninformed and misguided impression that once I set an intention it would just guide my actions for some infinite amount of time.  After years of getting the feedback that this is not how life works, I am finally more comfortable that life is more like sailing in the wind…constant adjustments and resetting the sails are required to stay on course.

My blessing to you today is that you may fully engage in and enjoy this Season of Rebirth.