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Episode 410 – Celebrating spring

• Welcome my friends to another week of QFY episodes
• As I published the recent episodes – I thought to myself:
• Wow – some of these topic are intense
• They are asking us to be very honest with ourselves and to take big steps
  • Make big decisions
  • Maybe even Sacrifices
  • Or risks
• But that is often what it takes when we want to become better
• However
• Today I decided to keep it light
• Maybe because I feel a little lighter in my heart as the first signs of summer are already here
• We changed our clocks to summertime a couple of weeks ago and I can tell you what a difference it makes
• Finally the days are a little longer
• I get to see sunrises and sunsets again while I am out and about
• And after weeks of rain here in the Bay Area, we also finally had a few days of sunshine
• I started listening to my summer playlist from last year already which always reminds me of long car trips to the mountains
• And I realized – we need to celebrate spring
• Not just spring as the season, but also the spring in our life
• spring as the start of something new or the end of something old
• Just like nature reinvents itself in spring
• We can do the same
• It starts by recognizing – spring is here
• Something is different
• I shared with you what I notice
• What do you see?
  • Maybe you have a garden where you notice differences
  • Maybe you live in a part of the world where spring is different – maybe still very cold and wintery?
  • Maybe there are activities you do that begin in spring – gardening, walking, swimming?
• I want to encourage all of us today – myself included – who has been running around with her head cut off trying to get as much done as possible, screwing up along the way, not always being kind, never patient enough, or quite satisfied
  • Lets celebrate spring
• Lets pause and notice the change that nature signals so clearly for us
• A new season that comes with new colors, new weather and maybe, a better outlook
• How can you join into the celebration?
• What can you let go and leave with the dark winter days?
  • Maybe a troubled relationship that didn’t go anywhere
  • Or a project that you’re stuck on?
  • An opinion or a belief you held on for to long?
• Where can you loosen your grip a little and instead hop into spring with a lighter step?
• Winter always feels heavier somehow, even while living in a fairly temperate climate such as California
• We tend to hang onto things in winter
• Being cozy and comfortable is a priority
• But when spring rolls around – I take my socks off and want to feel the ground under my feet
• I mean this literally and also figuratively
• I want to feel the sun on my skin
• And I want my soul to feel free and light
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• Where can you pause a little bit to notice the change?
  • and enjoy the breeze that isn’t freezing anymore?
• Maybe you have been rushing around like me
• Going after your goals, making sure everything gets done
• What about a simple pause?
• And I don’t mean on the couch or in bed
• But a pause to acknowledge the arrival of something new
• No plans just an afternoon outside – on your porch, on a patio with a book, in a park?
• No agenda, no plan, just to celebrate spring
• I was on my balcony this week cleaning something and felt the warm sun on my back
• I stopped for a few minutes and just welcomed this sensation which gave me a foretaste of summer
• That’s what spring really is for me – an announcement that summer is here soon – my favorite season
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• And if nothing old needs releasing, or a pause isn’t necessary,
• What can you start now that the days are longer and seemingly bring more time?
• I feel so much more motivation and inspiration in spring than in winter
• I love warmer weather so when it arrives, it always invigorates my body with more energy and my mind with more ideas
• And instead of taking this for granted, this year I decided to me more present with it
  • To acknowledge it and be grateful for it
• We tend to complain when winter arrives
• When we change the clocks
• When the dark and cold mornings keep us in bed and away from the gym
• But do we take a moment to acknowledge it when it changes?
• Last summer was truly amazing for me
• One of the best ones I had in a long time because of all the wonderful and challenging weekends mountain climbing and being in nature
• I don’t know what this summer will bring
• I am actually starting the spring a little sad because I lost my climbing partner
• He is moving to another state as we speak
• But at the same time I know I have a lot of other projects going on so I will be open to change
• Maybe its less time outside but more time dedicated to other passions?
• Maybe I find a new climbing partner?
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• Hard to foretell but I welcome the change
• Change is refreshing because it frees us of expectations
• And expectations only weigh us down
• What is something new you can begin that would free you and make you feel lighter?
• Not to add as another task or to-do but to allow you to savor the change of the season
• The other day I went for a walk
• I love walks but I hardly have the time for them
• It was a beautiful sunny and quiet Saturday afternoon and I walked through the Rose Garden which is near my house and then through the neighborhood
• I didn’t even look at my phone for directions – I just walked, trying to remember street names so I could find my way back home
• Nature pulled me outside
• And I encourage you –
• Let yourself be pulled
• Whatever strong intuition you have
  • A walk
  • A yoga practice
  • Singing or picking up a paint brush
• Go with it
• Don’t overthink it
• Don’t plan it
• Just go
• Celebrate the newness of it just like spring is new and let it inspire you
• And if my words didn’t inspire you – maybe this beautiful poem by Emily Dickinson will
• It’s a wonderful celebration of the miracle that happens during spring
• One that is not always explainable but its certainty worth noticing and celebrating
• Enjoy my friends and I cant wait to hear from you on how you celebrated spring
• Leave me a comment on my website or, and even better, a review on iTunes.
• That also helps others find this podcast easier
• Here you go:
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A Light Exists In Spring – Poem by Emily Dickinson

A light exists in spring

Not present on the year

At any other period.

When March is scarcely here

A color stands abroad

On solitary hills

That science cannot overtake,

But human nature feels.

It waits upon the lawn;

It shows the furthest tree

Upon the furthest slope we know;

It almost speaks to me.

Then, as horizons step,

Or noons report away,

Without the formula of sound,

It passes, and we stay:

A quality of loss

Affecting our content,

As trade had suddenly encroached

Upon a sacrament.