Walking Into Spring

Winter is departing. Spring is arriving. Settle into the morning walk, absorbing the bracing feeling of the cool air on your face as we walk together and reconnect to the rhythm of this powerful annual transition from the deep hush of winter into the vibrancy and energy of spring.

March in Minnesota. Fluctuating temperatures and days with snow and rapid snow melt. The signs of spring abound. As the ice that blanketed the streams all winter long disappears, the water’s flowing currents reappear and accelerate, carrying away the water that so recently saturated the land, held in frozen form awaiting the arrival of spring. And now, it is here again.

A wonderful landscape painter taught me that the colors he uses to paint his early spring scenes involves using the oldest colors known to humankind. Ochres. They range from pale yellows to deep reds and browns. Oranges, too. These earthy pigments were made from clay and iron oxide, iron being the most abundant element in the earth’s crust. About one third of the earth’s weight, by mass, is composed on iron, literally making it an essential element of the earth’s stability.

Early spring, filled with the sounds of flowing water, returning birds, and soon, the flowering of the multitude colors that herald the season’s full arrival, is a special time. It reminds me that new beginnings are not only possible, but inevitable, if only we take the time to orient ourselves toward them and align ourselves with nature’s innate healing rhythms.

Perhaps sitting and absorbing these early spring scenes can assist you in connecting with whatever new beginning you may be needing to undertake. Enjoy.