The early warning signs are so subtle at first… a swelling of the limbs, a softness of the breeze/breath, a whiff of possibility. I’ve usually been so busy DOING, strategizing and reacting to the demands of winter, that I barely notice the change around me. After all, my inner Drama Queen insists, we’ve been under siege, and Important Things must be done.
So, like others, I’ve just kept on keeping on. Doing. My. Life.
They said that spring was here. It says so on the calendar. But it was hypothetical when the lion of March was still roaring. I am aware, on some level, that spring equinox has finally occurred. I’ve even wished people a Happy Spring, but until this moment it has mostly seemed like nothing more than a very nice concept.
And then one moment, one day, I’m undone.
Maybe it’s the sun on my back. Maybe it’s the tulip tree that just moved from bud to bloom. In one moment, my usual doing self takes the giant step from doing… to being.
For me today was that day. All my big intentions were undone by the whiff of the cottonwood, the odiferous daphne, the flowering clematis.
And I think, Where was I while it was warming up for its big display?
It hardly matters. Because now I’m here.
I look up and there it is. The tree. The buds. The softer breeze. The beauty that we refer to as early spring, in all its freshness and unpredictability. And then everything else is erased. All that’s left for me to do is to continue to be undone by this miracle.
So how to I do that? By stopping in my tracks, allowing myself to be gobsmacked. Slowing down the pace of doing by adding a few extra minutes to each walk, each errand so there’s time to stop and hold Spring in my hand. To surrender doing for being. Just for a few seconds at a time.
A great undoing. Spring.
What are your experiences? How do you allow Spring to undo you? Where do you get stopped in your tracks? How do you celebrate that?
