Posted by Kimberly Rex
Spring Brings the Seeds of New Possibilities
Watching spring begin is an amazing experience. Where there were no blossoms a week ago, suddenly trees are filled with them. It seems miraculous that longer daylight, warmth, and rain can bring on such abundance after several months of cold, ice, and darkness. Yet, the cycles of nature have a way of reminding us of the necessary journey of rest that leads to renewal. When spring arrives, you are energized by the seeds of new possibilities.
Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed… Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders. ~Henry David Thoreau
Spring is the season of seeds and planting new possibilities. If you are a gardener, you are likely clearing the beds of old brush to see what plants are coming up while also sowing seeds for new growth. These seeds have been dormant for a season, and are now ready to respond to the nourishment of soil, sunlight, warmth, and rain. With patience and perseverance, they have all the information they need to grow based on the patterns of their DNA. A tomato seed creates a tomato plant. A nasturtium seed produces nasturtium flowers.
Into the Light: New Beginnings
During the season of spring, you notice wildlife is especially active and focused on building nests, mating rituals, and food retrieval. You might have had the experience of dodging or swerving your car on the road while trying to avoid robins chasing or flying after each other across the road. There is restlessness and excitement to meet survival needs, even at the expense of danger signs.
In the same way, the energy of spring can bring a sense of restlessness and excitement to your own life with a kind of “Spring Fever”.
According to scientific research reported in Scientific American, spring creates changes in your body-mind system with:
- A decrease in melatonin production leads to changes in sleep cycles and hormones a need for less sleep and more positive mood changes with the transition into longer daylight hours
- New colors, scents, and smells stimulate the production of the neurotransmitter dopamine energizes trying new experiences, a sense of excitement, and feeling more motivated to take action
- Activation of endorphins allows you to feel a greater sense of pleasure, joy, and less pain. You experience greater energy and happiness with the activation of endorphins.
- Increased Vitamin D3 with increased skin exposure to the sun benefits the health of your bones and teeth, immune system, brain, and nervous system. Vitamin D benefits the regulation of insulin levels, as well as lung and cardiovascular health
- Greater activation of the neurotransmitter serotonin leads to a sense of satiety, calmness, flexibility, and emotional calm
- Change in eating habits with more foods selections based on the availability of fruits and vegetables, lighter fare, and choices with more vitamins and protein
- Increased energy that leads to greater activity levels
It is good to have all of these benefits with the transition into spring, however, losing your sense of presence or grounding can lead to a sense of disorientation and frustration that compromises your positive intentions for your wellness and well-being.
I’ve noticed when planting seeds in the garden that wildlife also continues to plant seeds from the feeders to dig up later even though it’s spring! They have a plan for tough times. Some of these seeds will be eaten, while others will be left to germinate in the soil, the sun and rain to become flowers or stalks of corn over time.
In the same way, nourishing and seeding inner awareness of what you are feeling, thinking, and experiencing right now in your life can be a useful starting point for digesting or creating something new. If, for example, you experience a reaction to a situation, comment, or event that digs up material from the past, this can create seeds for revelations that can feed your need for planting new awareness and growth, or discernment for letting go.
It can be an invitation to sit down with your life to observe what is showing up within your emotional or survival seed or food bank.
Feed the Bloom of New Possibility
- Create Compassionate Time with Yourself: This can happen with meditation or setting aside time for your physical and emotional needs daily by putting time on the calendar for tuning into your inner voice and needs.
- Take a Few Seconds to Check In With Yourself: I recently watched a chef online build this into his strategy while cooking. He literally took a few seconds in the process of baking when he was mixing the wet ingredients for a pastry, to ask himself, “ Have I forgotten anything?” “Do I need anything else here?” Building in checkpoints in your work, errands, exercise, etc. as part of your process can stabilize and harmonize your awareness of what you are doing in a grounding way.
- Spend Time in the Sunlight: This will allow you to take more light into your brain to enhance your vision. movement, breath, posture, and energy while literally shedding light into your memory bank.
- Take Inventory of What Brings Gratitude to Your Life to Plant You More in the Present: This is especially helpful when you are confused or frustrated. By shifting your attention, you change how your body responds to the situation, and which neurotransmitters you feed.
- Observe Nature: Science is proving that spending time observing nature and all of its wonders create greater well-being and health while also building a sense of compassionate connection to life and others. Spring is the optimal time to nourish your physical vision, as well as your vision for life.
- Use Herbal Teas to Balance Spring Allergies: Drink Rooibos, nettle, lemon balm, peppermint, honey, and lemon or ginger tea to nourish your system.
- Eat Nourishing Spring Foods: Eat seeds and light-colored greens like asparagus and bitter leafy greens. They are especially good for cleansing including dandelion greens, arugula, radicchio, mustard greens, and spinach. Traditional Chinese Medicine recommends foods rich in chlorophyll to support your liver function, especially during spring. Eat radishes to move Liver Qi. Eat sour citrus fruits to cut fat stored in the winter, and to promote the movement of Qi throughout your body. The fibers in citrus fruits also serve as a wonderful pre-biotic for your digestion. If you eat meat, chicken can be a good match with your vegetables at this time of year.
- Use Color for Nurture in your Food Choices:
http://www.windowstotheheart.net/the-nurture-of-color-for-your-wellness-and-well-being/
- Find Reasons to Smile and Laugh: Smiling actually relaxes your brain and encourages greater optimism for life. Laughter decreases stress hormones, and increases immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies which improves disease resistance.
- Create time for Planning and Creating New Possibilities: As new growth is happening all around you, take time to focus, clarify and prioritize steps and resources for your goals. Break things down into small sizable steps with built-in success. Some things might need to be done right now, other things might need to be let go, and other things might need more time to grow. Pace yourself:
http://www.windowstotheheart.net/its-about-pacing-yourself-over-time/ - Keep a journal next to your bed or make a daily or weekly practice of nurturing through writing, drawing, recording, or moving your insights and inspirations. You can write down questions, express your frustration, and plan the next steps all while being curious. Doodle, write, or create poetry to nourish the answers or insights as you go. By doing so you connect to the deeper wisdom within your body-mind system in your process of creating new possibilities in your life!
Spring is a wonderful time to work with seeding new possibilities in your life. This is the time of year to really fine-tune your vision of life by clearing material that has kept you from seeing more clearly where you’d like to go with your positive intentions for life.
This is your personal invitation to access the information within your body-mind system to restore and enhance your life energy for your goals in life. Resonance Repatterning® allows you to let go of what is no longer working for you, and to nourish what will allow you to move forward to create greater integrity for your wellness and well-being.
Schedule a personal Resonance Repatterning session to experience a tangible and sustainable change in your life by phone, Skype, or in-person with Kimberly Rex, MS here.