Posted by on Feb 25, 2016 in mindsets, spring | 1 comment

When I was a kid, Spring was my favorite season. We could play outside during recess, bright bursts of colors appeared all over the neighborhood, and, oh, it was also my birthday. I loved the smells in the air, the promise of rain and green grass and always a family trip somewhere during spring vacation.

After living in Arizona for so many years, Spring became my least favorite time of year. Even though flowers and trees bloomed, the temperatures were a lovely 70° – 80°, and it’s still my birthday, I was all too aware that soon after mid-March, summer would blast in, a furnace of heat and dryness and six months of being sequestered in the air-conditioned indoors.

For many years I wasn’t able to appreciate any of the joys of Spring in the desert because I was already dreading the coming of Summer.

And then, a few years ago, something shifted. Maybe it was that day trip out to Boyce Thompson Arboretum, where we counted thousands of wildflowers blooming along the highways. Maybe it was riding my bike on an early April morning and feeling the cool air on my bare arms. Maybe it was just being more present in all places in my life.

Somehow, I was reminded how much I love that new light that comes in the Spring. How the season is all about birth and new growth and saying YES to being awake and alive and present.

Sure, it’s going to get hot. That’s what summer is in Phoenix. But it’s not hot today. And today is all that matters.

Is there something you dread that keeps you from enjoying WHAT IS?
A massage therapist friend had a client who could never enjoy her massage because she didn’t want it to be over.

A traveling friend didn’t want to go to the place of her dreams for fear of the disappointment of having to come home afterwards.

What are you missing in your life by not being PRESENT to WHAT IS?