Spring is born

Jim Tarran

Could it be that spring has come?
Well we all know not to count our chickens before they’re hatched but it is hard to resist a little internal fluttering as we move from snow drops to crocuses to daffodils, and as the dark nights finally become shorter.

All this being said, it is doubtless that March can still offer some pretty cold weather. And that the body will have suffered some effects from the long winter, despite and even to some extent, because of our centrally heated environments. The lack of light is also known to have an effect on us: serotonin levels may be a little depleted, energy and particularly enthusiasm may be affected.

Of course there are those who love the winter and there is certainly something very cleansing in the internalisation that comes to all nature at this time of year. It allows us to take stock and to reflect, which can help us to really feel some of our deeper-seated feelings and emotions and if we become more philosophical about them we can make new resolves. As we become more rooted in these resolves, we become ready for the spring energy to lift and support them through the coming months. We can see ourselves more motivated to express these internal resolves to bring them to fruition and harvest and to take stock again all the effects of our actions again at the end of the year.

If we have the right tools for learning as expounded in the Yoga tradition in the Yamas and the Niyamas and particually the contentment (Sanskrit: Santosa) to trust to this process (Ishvara Pranidhanna), each year follows a cycle and when viewed over period of years, then the cycles can be seen more as spirals.

Each year can be a process of learning and growth then if we can be more philosophical if we can bring recollection (Sampajanna) in as an essential pre-requisite of awareness so that we can be less attached to the relative ups and downs that go with the trial and errors of life. Through the spaciousness of equanimity then, we can learn from each cycle and build each successive one on the insights gained from the last.

Quotes

Question: ‘I’m trying very hard in my practice but don’t seem to be getting anywhere.’

Answer: ‘This is very important. Don’t try to get anywhere in the practice. The very desire to be free or to be enlightened will be the desire that prevents your freedom.
You can try as hard as you wish, practice ardently night and day, but if it is still with the desire to achieve in mind, you will never find peace. The energy from this desire will be a cause for doubt and restlessness. No matter how long or how hard you practice, wisdom will not arise from desire. So, simply let go. Watch the mind and body mindfully but don’t try to achieve anything. Don’t cling even to the practice of enlightenment.’

— The Venerable Ajahn Chah