Springtime

It's cold outside- and there is a possibility of snow flurries tonight!  But it is officially spring, and as I walked outdoors today I saw plenty of welcomed signs of  my favorite season.  The Bradford Pear trees, daffodils, and plenty of dandelions in my lawn are all evidence that the long, drab season of winter is over.  

The dreary days of winter seem to last forever.  Sometimes we can get discouraged that spring really will make an appearance.  And then - we see a bluebird, or the tiny crocus that gives us hope and reassurance that the seasons will change this year as they always have.  

If we are in our own personal winter- a time of discouragement, darkness, or loss- it may be hard to have confidence that spring will return to our lives.  Grief or sadness may seem to have taken root and one wonders if there is joy and peace to be had again.  There may be a tendency to stay inside and isolate at times like these.  Doing so, however, makes it less likely that the change of seasons in our lives (and feelings) will be noticed.  

Emotions come and go like waves. Of course, sometimes they may seem like mighty big waves!  "Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which ones to surf"- Jonatan Martensson.  If we acknowledge them, accept them without judgment or becoming self-critical for feeling them, it may be easier to let them go and move beyond.  Just like the hope that spring brings, the belief that feelings come and go can bring hope that tomorrow will bring respite from the painful feelings of today.  

"The Spring came suddenly, bursting upon the world as a child bursts into a room, with a laugh and a shout and hands full of flowers." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow