Blossoming

The weather is finally warming up (though with lots of intermissions of little cold spells and extreme rain).  Any chance I get--when the sky clears and the sun peeks through--I throw on my sports sandals and take a walk.  What I've been enjoying the most these past couple of weeks has been the opening of the flower buds on the trees and bushes, as well as the blooming of spring bulbs.  Suddenly there is color and fragrance!  Truly, is there anything more delicious than a apple blossoms, cherry blossoms, linden, lilac, lily of the valley?  I inhale deeply and happiness follows.  Joy is sensual and sensory.  Blossoms are also a feast for the eyes.  The Mary Cassat 1880 painting above captures the various purples, pinks and whites that encompass the color palette of the lilac.  The bushes look a bit weedy the rest of the year, but provide great shelter for birds.  Blossoms are temporal--you have to be willing to endure the ordinary and serviceable for those few days of spectacular color and perfume.  

So, taking in the visual beauty and scents of spring blossoms has me thinking about how can I bloom?  What can I do that will be fresh and awe-inspiring?  How can we humans emulate the vivacity of spring flora?

Here are some ideas I came up with:

1. Trying some new recipes but with a goal in mind.  For example, I'll come up with three new stir-fries I love, or three new smoothies, or juices, or pasta sauces.  Or, I'll learn three ways to cook asparagus that I love.
2. Re-organizing a room and adding a little fresh decor.  Remove that which is no longer serving you, rearrange the furniture if something isn't truly working, and add a fresh pop of yellow, purple or spring green.
3. Come up with six local charities to whom you'll donate money and/or time.  The amount is not as significant as the initiative.  
4. Revive a hobby--for me playing my flute is a great pasttime to re-visit in the summer.  This fall I plan to perform some Native American songs at a yoga retreat.  A goal helps to encourage practice and progress.
5. Start journaling!  Write your thoughts, try your hand at poetry, draw little pictures in the margins.  
6. Reconnect with an old friend.
7. Read--perhaps set up a mini-bookclub so as to have read one, two or three chosen books by the end of the summer.
8. Walk, increasing your mileage so as to be able to hike a certain distance by fall.
9. Study--sign up for a course in something that speaks to your soul.
10. Be open to serendipity and possibility.  This website and business was born out of a course in healing traditions that I'd signed up for.  I knew I didn't want to pursue being a practitioner, but the model of the way the business and course was set up provided a great template for what I'm offering here.

Explore, pause, inhale, blossom!  --Lisabeth