Day 22

April 10, 2021 Catherine Zack

Nature is a great teacher, wise and infinite. There’s no use in arguing.

This season of spring offers us real clues about the myriad ways that growth can look.

Here’s more of teacher, author, and activist Parker Palmer and what he has this to say about the lessons of the season:

“I will wax romantic about spring and its splendors in a moment, but first there is a hard truth to be told: before spring becomes beautiful, it is plug ugly, nothing but mud and muck. I have walked in the early spring through fields that will suck your boots off, a world so wet and woeful it makes you yearn for the return of ice. But in that muddy mess, the conditions for rebirth are being created.

…

Though spring begins slowly and tentatively, it grows with a tenacity that never fails to touch me. The smallest and most tender shoots insist on having their way, coming up through ground that looked, only a few weeks earlier, as if it would never grow anything again. The crocuses and snowdrops do not bloom for long. But their mere appearance, however brief, is always a harbinger of hope, and from those small beginnings, hope grows at a geometric rate.”

When we were kids, my mom would send we three sisters out to roam our neighborhood to “look for signs of spring” (or whatever the season was at hand).

Now a mother myself, I can imagine she was, herself, looking for a few moments of solace. But I have to believe her invitation held deeper wisdom.

Today, before you even begin to try and mine the big questions about what post-pandemic reemergence and big soul-shaking growth look like for you with your mind, take yourself outside and look for signs of spring

Whether you’re “officially” meditating or not, see what signs of this season of growth you can collect to arrange in a special place in your home — your practice space or altar if you’ve been able to create a sacred corner for yourself (or maybe today is the day!).

Budding branches. Abundant daffodils. Furry pussy willows.

All the shapes and sizes and stages of growth that nature has to offer us right now, let them serve as a reminder that each of personal growth potentials can look different and still be beautiful.

You can literally let this walk outside be your practice today.

Two more ideas for you too:

Keep grounding yourself in this moment of potential growth with another guided body scan today, in the audio meditation below.
Come to our group live at 1pm EST and learn TWO wildly effective, potent, off-the-charts practices that you will choose from over the next 7 days of Ignition. You don’t want to miss this one.

Hope to see you soon!
Cath

catherine zack

Day 22

LEAVE A COMMENT: What did you see on your walk today that looked and felt like your growth, right now?