Spring's Promise: Blossoming From Seed To Flower

Most would agree that the time of Spring is one of birth and rebirth. Rejuvenation. Innocence. Hopes and dreams. Spring offers us a new, clean slate. It is a wonderful time to cleanse & heal, and do our own proverbial Spring cleaning: throwing open the windows of body, mind, and spirit, stretching & shaking off winter’s (and the previous year’s) cobwebs like the bear awakening from hibernation. And, in its own way of new beginnings, springtime supports our clean slate with fresh exuberance: it is a season of youthful energy that jumps headfirst into new journeys and projects with a vitality that lacks doubt, jadedness, and cynicism--and affords us all the opportunity to stop beating ourselves up for the past and any perceived failures or shortcomings.

Spring has a promise within it–the promise of blossoming dreams, like a seedling into a flower, an acorn into an oak. Chinese Medicine, rooted in Daoist philosophy, associates springtime with the Wood Element. For obvious reasons, trees are associated with this Element, and thus springtime. Though all plant life can be considered to fall within this season and element, trees in particular show us the importance of being both strong and flexible–these qualities are symbiotic, life-supporting. The tree must be strong enough to hold its ground, yet if it is so strong as to be unyielding, it will eventually snap at the first big storm. To pursue our own dreams and life plans, even daily plans, we must have the strength to drive on through the tempests of the day, of life–yet if we are overly attached to our dream, goal or plan, if we are inflexible to adapting to what life presents to us, we shall most likely weather life with much frustration, resentment, even anger—and, well, snap, like a brittle, unyielding tree.

The season of springtime has, well, “spring”-a forward and upward movement and an energy that is unstoppable and action-driven. When our plan is thwarted we can choose to either adapt it and keep moving forward, or we can come to a dead halt. Nature gives us a wonderful guide to live harmoniously and effortlessly. If the first shoots from a seed meet a rock, do they insist on blasting through the rock at great energetic expense and frustration, or do they simply turn right or left, find the open path and keep moving? If you’ve ever noticed a blade of grass poking up between 2 slabs on a sidewalk, it sure seems obvious, doesn’t it? (That blade of grass found an opening and took it-with both ease and ambition to reach the sunlight.)

Vision, clarity, and discernment are also expressions of Spring and the Wood Element, and tie in with the ability to plan, execute, and adapt. The seed is a blueprint, a map of the future, and of potentiality. Do we see a future for ourselves~ with a hope and promise that is youthful and un-jaded, like Spring? Do we have clarity on what we even want? Do we discern what is right for us and if a particular dream or goal is a worthy one? Do we disce
and discriminate between the people in our lives~ who is reliable and trustworthy versus who is not? Do we have the clarity and discernment to know when the proverbial “buck stops here,” and when it’s time for self-inquiry into our habitual thoughts and actions? Regarding any plan and its execution, and our part in it: our ability to adapt is intimately connected to our ability to discern what is working and what needs tweaking; what is efficient & what is inefficient.

If we tend to experience frustration, resentment, and/or anger often, these are emotional signposts that beg self-inquiry: how do we get in our own way--be it over the course of a day or a lifetime? And, self-inquiry is also warranted if our tendency is to go to the other extreme: retreat (backward movement), give up the dream, goal, or plan, and feel hopeless about the future, doomed to failure. There is nothing timid about Spring’s nature. It is exuberant, noisy, and active~ there is a shout to springtime. Can you imagine the seed withering away in despair because one of its shoots met a rock in its path?

Indeed, nature and its seasons as viewed in Chinese Medicine, can inform our lives and give us insight into our habits, patterns of behavior, emotions, and even our blindspots. Unfulfilled hopes and dreams can flavor our lives with the emotions of frustration or despair. Anger or depression. There is a saying that depression is anger directed inward (the opposite of Spring’s forward and upward movement). And yet, anger and frustration can actually be a positive force, as both can move us into action. Despair, hopelessness, and depression can cause us to simply give up. Bringing awareness to our habits can show us that perhaps we tend to give up too easily when the going gets tough, or alternatively, we just bulldoze over anyone and anything that gets in our way~ like a weed overtaking a garden. Or, then again, maybe we let others bulldoze over us-do we hold weak boundaries for ourselves, are we too flexible?

Much like Spring, each day is a season in its own way. And every day, every moment, and really every thought, offers us a clean slate. . . the question is, which course will we take? Shall we continue to haul the baggage of seasons past? The baggage of our habitual thought and behavior? Or, shall we choose the clean slate, and plant seedlings of thought where our hopes and dreams are un-polluted by naysayers, even our own naysayer within?

There is another apt saying for all of us: sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny. Standing clearly in the present, begin with a thought. That is the seed of our every dream. May we all see and choose a heartfelt and life-supporting dream. May we all move toward it with strength, determination and forward action, the ability to adapt and be flexible, with clear vision and discernment, and most definitely with the exuberance and vitality of journeying toward the dream itself.nnnn nn nn nn