Good morning everyone! I don't know about you, but I am
so ready for Spring! This winter was a wild one with dramatic new levels of snowfall and frigid temperatures, that I've never experienced before in CT. Growing up in Florida, we did not really have seasons. After 9 months of summer, we generally had 3 months of cool, rainy weather with an occasional frost. I actually LOVE the changing seasons, and right now, I am looking forward to the thaw and the first glimpses of purple and white crocuses miraculously popping through the soil. Since moving to CO and then on to CT, I have gained a genuine appreciation for these little miracles of nature.
Similarly, I am looking forward to an inner thawing out, melting, and expansion. I am ready for something new to come through in my own earth; a new idea, a new feeling, a new expression of myself. Inner winter is the time of holding, gestating and waiting - something artists and writers know well. This happens in the inner life all the time, no matter what the outer season. Mother nature just gives us the gift of being able to see the beauty of the thaw in the Spring.
I would love to hear your stories! Write a response, that expresses a time of this inner thawing in your life.
It's a windy day, today, alternately chilly and warm: Spring is blowing in slowly in Florida, and the oaks are shedding their leaves and popping with pollen and the vibrant green of the new leaves that will follow. The seasons are subtle, here, and sometimes happen so gradually that it's easy to miss them.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying not to miss the new season inside me, coming. I'm yearning toward the change, but it's hard not to try and hold on to the old leaves, falling. It's work to reveal the new green and to trust that I will be stronger and more beautiful when Spring finally comes.
Ash Wednesday
ReplyDeleteAfter surgery, chemo and radiation,I was living in an "underworld" basement apartment in the North End of Boston, a winter of recovery from cancer treatment.This apartment had only one window to the street,but had been a comforting , dark, cell to hide out in for many months with two affectionate cats.
Coming home from work one cold evening,I turned up the heat before even taking off my coat or opening the mail. The gas heater sparked a flame which ignited the kitchen ceiling. suddenly, the small apartment kitchen was filled wiht smoke, and the ceiling was on fire, the lights went off and I just had time to run out the door and alert other building residents.
The apartment burned, the cats were rescued, but everything of mine was burnt and floating in water. The fire happened on Ash Wednesday. It was a shock which forced me out of the basement, back into life above ground, a new life eventually , from ashes, into spring, from a Persephone existence.
Thanks Dorica, this is a good idea for more participation.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to spring and more creativity
Amanda
After a very long year, where we lost everything. Our home, our jobs (within the same week)and a dear family member.
ReplyDeleteThat winter, was very hard and we didn't have two cents, literally. Luckily, we had the strength and love from each other and plowed on during that wintry season. When I was down, and screaming at the Universe, my husband was the one to lift me up and remind me, we will get through this.
And we did. It happened oh-so-slowly but by that Spring, we had new jobs and if not a house of our own, a roof over our heads. Things still aren't quite back to where we were but I feel hope again. After the long year, where everything seemed so bleak, hope crept back into my perspective and gave me the strength to keep moving forward. That's what last Spring meant to me: The return of hope into our lives. And you;re right that it is the time where we see the beauty of the thaw, but when things started on the upswing for us, it coincided with flowers starting to bloom and the warmer weather.
I am often asked if I miss the changing seasons. I live on the Big Island of Hawaii in the land of constant spring and summer. The question surprises me because nature provides for us here a constant flow of change challenging our ability to move from one experience to another with a certain amount of grace and fluidity. Two days ago the mountain opened and from its glowing depths lava poured out. We have been expecting this grand eruption for a while now watching carefully for signs of change. First there were swarming earthquakes, then inflation of the mountaintop. Now there is a fiery lake of hot liquid stone undulating slowly towards the sea. The fire will cool and over time tiny green ferns will grow on its surface. This fiery explosion, loud and messy like all births, will bring new earth to life.
ReplyDelete