Seize the Season

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I’m a creature of the seasons.

Born in the last weeks of winter, I carry the slow awakening of the snow covered seed and the hibernating bear inside me like a long held memory.

The memory lives in my body much more than in my head. When Spring feels near, I literally feel myself beginning to stretch physically and emotionally.

Unlike so many people who feel down in the winter, I absolutely love this dark and moody season. Winter reminds me of a mother who lays the law down for a family too rambunctious to choose rest on their own.

Winter has had enough of all of her unruly children. She’s had enough of their endless shenanigans and she knows it’s time to bring them home.

It’s time for nurture and naps.

It’s time for return and reflection.

It’s time to slow down so we can live to enjoy another Spring.

Winter is a Mother. And every good mother knows when it’s time to let her children out to play.

Spring is here and it’s time to step out of the cozy cocoons we’ve built around our minds, bodies and dreams.

This is the time of year when so many of us feel that gentle tingling of possibility. For some, it’s an exciting awakening and for others it can feel anxiety provoking.

It’s true that anxiety, fear and excitement can feel interchangeable in our bodies. A fluttering in the heart, a churning in the gut, sweaty hands and shallow breaths. Is it excitement or anxiety? Is it fear or anticipation? We alone, get to render the final verdict.

Spring can trigger all those emotions at once inside of us because it’s a season of possibility and potential.

We are right to be a little bit scared, anxious and excited — after all Spring is the time to plant seeds in the ground.

Those seeds are the intentions and commitments we decide now.

The people we keep in our lives and those we decide to place in an outer circle.

The choices we make regarding our time, money and attention.

Let your mixed emotions slow you down so you can be thoughtful and purposeful about which seeds you plant.

Later this year, there will be another season and your harvest should not come as a surprise to you.