Before the Bloom

Greetings all. It has been a long time since I last posted, and so much has happened in our world since. As we move into Spring, it felt like a fitting time to re-emerge, just as the buds are surfacing on the trees. As we emerge from Winter, I imagine all of us have experienced some form of winter over the last year. There have been losses of loved ones, relationships, connections, freedoms we once knew. It has been a true winter in the sense of going inward and inside, retreating, quieting down as well as shedding, letting go, feeling stripped bare at times. It’s easy to say it’s the natural cycle of life and the spin of the planet, but the truth is, this has not been an easy year, and I wanted to take a moment to honor the grief that I and others have felt.

As always, I take cues from mother nature. And every year I’ve watched as bare times lay the foundation for fruit. I know this season won’t be different. Was there fruit for you in this difficult time? Was there bloom when it felt like mostly loss and decay? For me, the disruptions of COVID-19 brought some unexpected opportunities to expand my heart and horizon. Sometimes an upheaval to the status quo can open a door into a new perspective or situation that otherwise might not have happened. I see fruit also in the darkness, all those times I felt uncertain and afraid. There is nothing like a global health crisis to show you the contours of your psyche and the edges of your emotions. If anything, there is a certain peace in knowing you can ride it all and come out the other side ok.

Before I go, I wanted to share something I wrote recently. One last reflection as the weather warms and we begin to open again:

This is the season for bloom. In order for bloom, there needs to be winter. There must be a process of decay, a period of quietly going inward, of letting something go. Isn’t that blooming anyway? To let go of a held position, to let go of being tight and inward and folded over and just release each petal so that you can grow bigger and more beautiful? I respect that period of time before bloom - cautious, slow, maybe a little hesitant to reveal one’s full glory, maybe needing to be closed shut for a while, all just waiting for the right moment, the moment it all comes together and life says, your time is now.

Allyn