Receiving the Blessings of Balance, Fertility, & the Hope of New Beginnings: Beyond Anxiety & into Transformation
Spring Equinox Sings
As Spring begins to sing a symphony of heavenly voices from our winged friends, delicate new colors, illuminated by lush misty rains, and growing light emerge. I listen to the call of my heart to surrender my “to do’s” and pay attention to the awe inspiring gifts unfolding around me; tiny hints of little red buds on trees, here in one moment and growing so fast that they’ll be full blossoms in what seems like a blink of an eye.
Spring Equinox: Balance, Fertility, & the Hope of New Beginnings
When the Darkness of the night is Equally Balanced with the Light of the Day;
And we can feel the culmination of the friction between these polarities… Action & Receptivity… Darkness & Light, as they’ve danced… An extended moment of Mystery & Magic… Where we can hang in the Balance and Feel…
A cleansing exhilarating wind…
A pregnant pause before the Mystery of new life bursts forth…
…And as the Light grows, there will be a surge of vital energy causing plants to grow and animals to mate.
As our ancestors have done in all parts of the world for thousands of years, we greet the growing light of the Sun, offer our gratitude and receive. Standing rooted in our beloved Earth Mother with open arms, we breath in the Sun’s golden radiant warmth, revealing our open hearts, beating with Awe and Gratitude for this Wondrous gift of life.
As every cell of the world receives the generative gift of Grandfather Sun the whole world awakens into being, bringing Newness in every moment.
Without him we would not have life.
Each stage of every tree and plant is so precious, beautiful, and nourishing to behold.
I don’t want to miss anything. In a sense, I measure my “sanity” this way, my lived integrity to my Values; Values that can be difficult to hold onto in today’s world, yet so deeply needed; Presence, Stillness, Receptivity, Mystery, Wonder, Union with Nature, & Natural time, Gratitude, and Celebration. These are qualities of experience that I cherish and Nature calls me home to.
I hold these qualities dear because, like I said, they keep me sane...nourished …And I know I’m not the only one in this.
Ancient indigenous wisdom traditions from around the world have supported people in the cultivation of these qualities & tuning with the cycles of the seasons for many generations because they are inherently a key to balanced healthy living, vitality, and even survival!
In today’s western globalized society we need these Values more than ever because
we are experiencing a runaway train called “MORE” which is pulling us away from Stillness & Receptivity toward constant activity, and out of Balance.
In modern society, personal and collective consciousness is weighted heavily toward active productivity. So, to pause and open to a state of receptivity is an act of Balancing, Healing, and generating fertility on all levels.
To open to the beauty of the Natural realm and perceive its splendor deeply is an
experience near and dear to my heart, so I know that if I am so focused on work that I’m not heeding the call, something is out of Balance.
Out of Balance: A path of Rapid, Constant Growth
The message we constantly receive is: “Push harder to be Better, Smarter, & Have More of the Best (at any cost).” And, as we’ve seen, the cost is high… very high.
Yet, we push harder to keep up with digital speed while societal definitions of Better & Best contribute to keeping us in states of perpetual judgement, shame, striving, and dissociation from ourselves and Source.
Its common knowledge that anxiety and depression are on the rise, people’s
physical health is waning, and we are facing mounting global crisis of the climate, species, and humanity.
So, is following the program of pushing harder to achieve even our most lofty goals really the solution?
When will we remember that fertility for new growth is generated in the dark; in receptive stillness like the womb space and the medicine bowl of the night sky, and the slow time it takes to compost the dead leaves of winter (or habits that need pruning)? There are some who remember this. May we all remember.
New growth cannot take place with activity and sunlight alone. For something new to be conceived, for Life to flourish, it requires both the in breath and the out breath…and the pause in between… the entire journey of every moment within the cycle of: in and out; To conceive new life requires the friction of polarities.
We must have both activity and receptivity. Otherwise there is burn out and then a dustbowl, a dying away. Stillness will come on its own terms if uninvited. Every part of the cycle will take its place. Everything in Nature moves in cycles and seasons.
Will we move with it and receive the benefits? Or will we continue to hurt ourselves and one another by perpetually pushing?
Beyond Anxiety & Resistance to Stillness, Feeling & Healing
Even the current trend of promoting Self Care tends to focus on doing something for yourself rather than doing nothing, being still, & receptive, which is probably what most of us need most in this day & age.
Not: doing nothing as in:
chill out and scroll on your phone or watch your favorite episode of something, but actually stopping all activity, especially that of the mind, which is so accustomed to latching on to anything it can, especially distractions from actually feeling.
Even with my devotion to and love for timeless receptive sensing and following the flow of the natural realms, I still find myself, at times, captivated by the allure of constant motion.
Most of us are influenced by the chaotic rhythms of an urgent society.
Many of us struggle with anxiety, even those of us that never did before.
The big fear that keeps cycles of anxiety going is the fear of slowing
down enough to be still and feel.
We fear the pain of our vulnerable feelings …When we slow down we might actually feel the pain of our grief …our shame, our terror, confusion, hurt, rage…
…a grief that was once collectively metabolized in community through regular ritual dance and sacred song, timed and tuned to the cycles of nature. …and this is not fully out of reach.
We need safe caring connection as part of our healing process. Connection with ourselves, our emotions, with caring people, with Nature, and with Source.
Yet, as we align with the societal push to constantly be productive and achieve, we increase the tendency to unconsciously deny, exile, or suppress the painful emotions of our deepest struggles.
Anxiety is perpetuated as we feel the constant tug of unprocessed painful experiences & emotions but, by resisting the feelings and not processing their messages fully, it is as though we’ve created an invisible force field around our vulnerable feelings and the tug of our awareness gets pulled toward them and continuously bounces off the force field back at us.
Often we don’t fully know or understand what’s going on behind the “force field”. We just feel the nagging energy of anxiety - and it gets louder the more we resist the vulnerable feelings underneath. This is one of the ways we perpetuate anxiety and, like anything, these cycles can become habits & patterns.
Relief surprisingly comes in the surrender; to dis-inhibit and relax the
tension and defenses, contact the hurting parts of you that have been consciously or unconsciously crying out for space to express, be felt, and be loved.
With Compassion that flows from inner connection, connection to Source, Nature, and/or caring human beings, these vulnerable feelings and emotional energies can flow toward healing.
I know first hand, that finding the courage to reflect deeply, to touch in with what’s actually going on inside, isn’t always easy and it can take time, space, and support.
Strangely, the Mystery of the Unknown can be quite supportive, even though we often fear the unknown.
The Unknowable is the realm of the Mother Goddess of the Universe, whose womb of creation lives in between every particle of existence. She can hold and nurture us in Mysterious ways.
Without Her we would not have Life.
So may we continue to offer our songs of gratitude and praise.
An Act of Balancing creates fertile ground for new growth.
The vulnerability of reaching out and asking for support is one of the greatest acts of Courage. …And our world needs it.
Independence is a myth of a mechanistic society which has forgotten that it too relies
on the cycles of nature to survive.
We are Interdependent.
We need to connect vulnerably with one another.
Giving and Receiving; Receptivity & Activity are equally valuable and essential to the continuation of Life.
When I tune in and reflect, what step can I take toward Balance in my life that would help create fertile ground for New Growth?
As we plant our Sacred Seeds this Spring, may we continue to tune our lives ever more deeply with the Balancing Wisdom of Nature.
Blessed Be All my Relations
Tree, Rock, Moss, Roots, River Photos & Writing by,
Rebecca Goutal,
Registered Therapeutic Counsellor
Free Initial 20 Minute Consultaion
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