There are all kinds of ways to avoid the natural environment. To act like you aren’t part of the earth. But even so, you can’t escape it: we are all, still, just mud and clouds.
This time of year, when winter is disappearing and spring is stepping forth, often feels unstable. One hour, you’re slipping on half melted dirty ice and getting honked at by some woman in a grungy car, and the next you’re marvelling at the beauty of the first opened flower, the miracle of breathing, just being alive together.
Some of the plants in my apartment window have suddenly started sprouting little clones of themselves. Tiny sage bushes, strands of mint, leaves of lemon balm. A few others have sections which have suddenly dried up, as if the life that was there was borrowed to make the new life in a neighboring pot.
Seasonal transitions aren’t given their due in modern culture. We wake up with a cold, and shrug it off or complain about it. We feel a new calling or interest, and fail to connect it to the ways the Earth is shifting.
The fleeting, ever shifting nature of life is more apparent right now. And whether you choose to honor it or not, the sometimes dramatic nature of change is never too far away. Step on the wrong sheet of ice and you’re gonna fall through. Overturn a loose stone and find the ground below has been colonized by weeds.
We are the seasons and the seasons are us. As spring unfolds all around you, pause and remember. Taste the sun that stands higher in the sky now, bringing forth new life.
Photo Credit
Spring Snow @ Flickr
Recent Nathan Thompson Articles:
- A Balm for Your Body and Mind
- The Gifts of Comfrey
- Learning in the Community Garden
- Passionflowers
- The Beautiful, Powerful Coneflower
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