So we’ve made it through Winter. The days are beginning to get a little longer and the weather warmer. Plants are coming back to life and there’s a definite sense of Spring in the air. After a few months hibernating, this is when nature has its new year celebrations, and when we’re all invited to re-set, rejuvenate and start afresh by setting March intentions.
The intention for March is presence – the ability to meet each moment as it is and treat it as a completely new experience. The more present we are, the more aspects of life we get to experience, and the more we engage with tasks, conversations, explorations and relationships. When we’re fully immersed in the present moment – as you may have experienced when in a yoga class, whilst running, painting, writing, meditating, cooking or playing a musical instrument – we’re able to access a flow state. Flow state is an uninterrupted stream of conscious awareness directed towards one focus. There’s no mind chatter or pointless worrying getting in the way, there’s no self consciousness, there’s just the moment. When we’re engaged in this state, we’re able to do some of our best work, and just like the flowers around us, we start to grow and bloom.
Start From Where You Are
Throughout the Spring, we can see nature living its purpose and fulfilling its potential, coming to life again after disappearing over the past few months. This month, we can take inspiration from nature and know that even after a period where we may feel we’ve ‘disappeared’ or our focus has been lost, we still have the ability to return to our very best self. All it requires is the willingness to meet ourselves exactly where we are right now.
A tree that temporarily stopped growing in the Winter isn’t ashamed to come back to life in the Spring, flowers that were at their best last year are still up for the challenge of improving this year, and the animals that went into hibernation may have put on a little weight, but they know how natural that is, and that all of that stored energy will help them make the most of the coming months. In other words, wherever you’re at right now – whether you’re feeling fantastic or far from it – meet yourself where you are, and start from now. Just as the seasons change, we too move through phases of light and dark, ups and downs. Just as nature is willing to let go of the past year and bloom once again good as new, we too can let go of the last few months, the resolutions we may not have kept, the big ideas of what the beginning of 2019 ‘should’ have looked like, be totally present with what right now looks like instead.
Presence isn’t easy if we haven’t practiced it for a while, but nothing worth having comes all that easy either. Look to nature as your guide this month, and open up to new beginnings, new possibilities, and the new season ahead.
