By Dina Tibbs / Guidely
With the transition to Spring, I have been musing on transitions, life cycles, project cycles, motherhood cycles, business cycles, relationship cycles. Everything in life is a cycle, not a linear beginning and end. Everything has its season. When we honor the transitions, create stillness, and understand what our point of equilibrium is, we face change more gracefully and with some sense of ease.
The Craft of Life as a Sacred and Creative Act
Beauty and grace are exemplified by a musician or a dancer. I have been watching my son play guitar since he was 8, he is now 15 and is getting better and better. He now has the ability to transition fluidly with his fingers without any abrupt starts and stops between different styles of music; Rock, Country, and now I am thrilled to say Blues! Because my son is acknowledging the points of stillness and flowing to the next thing, his music has gone from beginner level to potent adept.
A dancer does the same thing. She anticipates the music and therefore the embodied movement seamlessly transitions, so gracefully that no one externally even notices it.
How do they do this? Through the paradox of stillness in action. Being present while still being aware of what is about to come without thinking about what just came before. By feeling the music and their surroundings with every part of their being, and by practicing their craft.
And so it is in life.
We can not know our future, but we can create the conditions for the future we would like by practicing our craft.
Honoring the Cycles of Life
We are entering the season of Spring and the Element of Air. The transition to Spring is a time of new beginnings and fertility. The winds of change begin blowing us from the dark of winter to the fire of summer. How do we slow down long enough to honor that and honor the transition to Spring?
It’s a practice. One that if you choose to work with, slowing down in order to be in the right action with what life has to present you, will allow you to face change and transition with ease and grace.
I have been talking to so many women that are in transition, both big and small. Death, divorce, career changes and shifts, homeschooling, life after a pandemic and a new normal, retirement and finding themselves anew, motherhood transitions, relationship transitions, even the time change is a transition as is the season change. Many are just feeling a sense of change afoot but not being able to pinpoint it. We are all going through a transition of one kind or another because our lives are cyclical, as is nature. But we do not honor or even stop to take a moment to acknowledge that we are transitioning, nor do we give ourselves a chance to catch our breath.
Transition to Spring
Spring is all about the Air element making it a great time to start a breathwork practice. The transition to Spring is the perfect time to slow down, stop for a moment, look at what has transpired since Winter, look at the goals and visions, and with laser-like clarity start making choices. Choices of what direction we will take, where we will put our focus and energy, and check-in.
What we thought we wanted in January may already have a different look and feel now that we are in March.
Like a pilot, we don’t just get in the plane and keep flying without stopping. We have to first stop to look at the path and the map, determine the flight plan, then stop to recharge and refuel. If we don’t, we literally crash and burn.
It is important to have a daily practice to check the tank and the instrument panels but to also take long pauses to create ritual and ceremony and take a visionary look at the flight plan to ensure we are taking the path with the least amount of stormy weather as possible. Also being aware that when we take these pauses, we have created the internal conditions to make it through the changes and the storms too, and that when those things come up we don’t go into emergency mode and lose an engine.
Spring: Season of New Beginnings
This Spring, the Equinox was on March 20th; a perfect time to honor the transitions, access your visionary self, gaining clarity on moving from one cycle to the next, visualizing what that looks like from a heart-centered and clear place. The transition to Spring is the time to create a short ceremony honoring the element of air, the winds of change, taking a breath, and stopping to notice the transitions you are in instead of “moving on” to the next thing without honoring the ending of the other.
When we honor an ending in this way, just like the dancer or musician, we don’t get stuck in it without realizing it, but rather move through it gracefully. This allows it to open us to the possibility and beauty of what is coming next.
The Equinox is also about balance and equilibrium. That may not mean a 50/50 balance of anything, but a sense of finding your own balance point on the continuum that is your life. Our focuses may be stronger in one area of our life in this cycle than in others, and that is OK. Once you let go of the idea that they all get equal attention all of the time, you actually reduce the overwhelm. It’s just the practice of asking every day what is in your heart and soul’s desire to receive attention, and do it.
The old saying where attention goes, energy flows is true. Conversely, getting really truthful about what you have been completely ignoring and how that is affecting you. How is ignoring those things feeling in your body? How is it manifesting in your emotion? Now is the time to start getting some clarity on what is really important.
How to Transition to Spring From Winter
A few lovely practices at this time of year:
- Open the windows and air your spaces out. Spring cleaning is not just for “cleaning”. It is also for resetting the energy of a space; including your inner space.
- Pay attention to what the animals, especially the birds are doing, as well as the plants. I talk to the creatures and I ask them to show what I need to see in order to receive “navigational” guidance. When we pay attention, we receive answers. I ask “show me what I am not seeing.”
- A good inquiry is to also create some quiet time, inside or outside by taking a walk and musing on:
- “What do I know now that I did not know in January about my visions, dreams, focuses?”
- “Which things are working and feeling flowing and harmonious? Which are working or feeling forced or draining me of my energy?”
- “What shifts do I need to make to be more harmonious and flowing, what I am willing to let the “wind” take and clear out?”
- “Where do I desire to put my life force focus, energy, and resources towards to allow to blossom in the summer and harvest in fall (or next year if it is a larger vision that will take many cycles)?”
It is OK if something you thought you wanted to do in January, is not flowing or in your joy. Let it go. It is ok to reset visions, dreams, and goals at any time that is right for you. Go plant something, put your intentions into the seeds. Choose a favorite (or learn a new) creative practice, make a commitment, and make the time and space for it. Enjoy your transition to Spring.