Lovely spring birdsongs caught my attention; the Chickadee’s tic-tic, the Finch’s warble, the rat-a-tat-tat of the Downy Woodpecker. As I backed out of the drive, the dirt softly gave way with the heft of the car, gently splashing the doors, misting the windows. Another sign of spring: driveway flooding.
Snow and ice pile up at the end of the drive courtesy of local plows, clogging the drains from sweet, spring release. Intentional maintenance of digging snow ditches allows water to move as we navigate the quick spring thaws.
Like the snow at the end of the drive, our spirits can experience a “piling up” that leads to a “clogging up” of our emotions. We experience loss, challenges with family, work, finances, and the daily events of life, and stress gets stuck in us instead of doing its work and moving through us. It seems we are at the bottom of that snow pile, and the plow keeps dumping more on top of our already strained spirits. Tending to our spiritual life can feel like “another thing to do” rather than what supports and holds us.
When we are exhausted it is hard to see what renews our spirit. I invite you to consider: Where do you experience love? Joy? Kindness? Peace? When we identify what and who nourishes our spirit, we can chose what restores us. Peace can be found on a walk down a dirt road; love, in family and friends; joy, in reading poetry, and kindness, in the eyes of a stranger. Where do you experience the sacred presence of love, joy, peace, kindness, and goodness? Let those experiences seep into the stress clog in your heart and allow spring melting Take a deep breath to a renewed spirit.
Andrea Tatley 