Rebirth & Contrast

 

Yay For Springtime!

I hope this blog finds you enjoying the blessed weather. It always seems to be a great relief to get from winter into spring! Especially in this year of 2021. Last year was an especially long year, that made each season feel even longer.

As the sun has started shining more, and the temperature has started to improve, getting outside is something I am sure most people are more than ready for. Now that the time change has occurred it is easy to keep going into the later hour without even realizing it. Finally enjoying more of the day and being able to spend more of it outside.

One of my favorite things in the spring is watching the Crocus bloom, a sure sign spring has arrived. It’s inspiring to see nature come to life again unprompted and untended to.

The rebirth of nature lends to renewing things myself. Refreshing the house, clearing out clutter, cleaning up the yard. Planting new flowers and other landscaping. Even better is doing these things with my family. Taking the time together, making fun out of it, and just relaxing.

Being able to enjoy the small things is even more so vibrant when you compare or contrast it to having any difficult times. Everything in life is a lesson. Sometimes it is a big lesson, one that is painful, traumatic, or incites a sense of dread or fear. This last year has accumulated a great amount of fear, anxiety, worry, and loss for many.

It can take a long time, and a lot of work to move passed all the hard times. You cannot erase it, you should not forget it, but you cannot dwell on it all the time. Constantly reliving any difficult times or traumas can cause more long-term negative impacts on yourself either physically or mentally. One way to move through it to the other side is to start to reflect on how the contrast of it makes you appreciate every other thing in life, however small. Focus on what is good, what is working, and what you enjoy and are thankful for. Something as small as the songs of the birds waking you up in the morning. Seeing a rainbow after the showers have moved passed. The smell of the blossoms wafting through the air bringing the sweet smell of the flowers into your path. Take a deep breath…smell the spring. A new day has dawned.

Without the contrast of struggle and appreciation, happiness, and sadness, being lost and finding purpose, we would not be able to know how good we've got it. We would not know how important it would be to share with others, say something or do something nice for someone else. Remembering how when someone extended kindness to us, how much that cheered us up or helped us through a difficult time. Knowing this, choose to extend kindness to others around you. You never know how badly the other person may really need it.

So, while you are enjoying the new season, take a moment of reflection on the things around you. The good, the bad, what has been joyful, what was disappointing, and think about how important it is to have the contrast. Without it our lives would be like a straight line, grey, motionless, and we would find ourselves bored. It’s okay to shake things up once in a while, it’s okay for things to go up, then down, weave in and out, have a big bang, or a moment of such quiet you can only hear the sounds of nature.

I hope everything in life is bringing you great joy and helping you find what is new and good. Please leave a comment below if you would like to share any of your thoughts or experiences. 

Take care and enjoy seeing everything come to life and bloom,

Tina 

Redwood Whole Health Coaching