Spring is here. In the PNW it is unlike anything I have known growing up in the high plains desert. Our plum tree went from small buds to resplendent white flowers overnight. The grass grows by inches. The lichen is an electric lime green. Everything is lush. Nature’s language is abundance.
I try to attune my awareness and way of being to this ancient knowledge of spring. Most days, instead, I fail miserably, instead living in the world of my mind where anxiety and overwhelm wins out. But the wisdom and language of spring is undeniable, gorgeous and luscious in its capacity to just be. In honor of spring, I’d like to share this poem.
For a New Beginning by John O’Donohue
In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire,
Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,
Noticing how you willed yourself on,
Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety
And the gray promises that sameness whispered,
Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,
Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled,
And out you stepped onto new ground,
Your eyes young again with energy and dream,
A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear
You can trust the promise of this opening;
Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning
That is at one with your life's desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;
Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
Until next Friday!
Be well, breathe, read, and make some art!
Jen