YAY! Spring is springing! Or has it sprung? Flowers are blooming, temperatures are warming, the sun is shining more days than not. This is the time of year that re-energizes me and helps me to re-focus on goals. It is a time where the earth comes back from the dead and dormant state and shows us with beautiful magnitude her rebirth capabilities. It is also a chance for us to be reborn and awaken.
From the cold long slumbers of winter, the lack of vitamin D, the dark places that we have been living in for so many months. So, it begs the question, where do I begin? When you are coming out of the fog of the depression that winter can bring to so many, it can be a bit overwhelming. Suddenly your energy is beginning to rise, and you want to do things. Something, anything, everything! But I have learned I have to step slowly into the energy or I burn myself out very quickly and end with unmet goals, and my closet ripped apart with no desire to finish…. looking at the mess and saying, “What the hell was I thinking?” So instead, this season I think I will start with small, but attainable goals.
1. Reduce wine intake.
I have already begun this one. I have been reading a lot about the benefits that stopping, and/or reducing alcohol to a minimum can offer. Better sleep patterns, reduced anxiety, lower blood pressure and hey, losing a few pounds would certainly be welcomed. So now I am focused on saving the wine for a night out with friends on occasion or maybe every so often by the firepit.
2. Take a walk.
When the weather is nice, I am aiming to walk at least every other night. Instead of plopping my ass on the couch and playing games on my iPad, or watching more Netflix, I will move. I am not saying I am going to run marathons, but we are blessed to live within a short, 5-minute walk to the beach… it’s beautiful, refreshing to the mind and soul… and greatly underutilized by me and my family. I will encourage them to come with me. We could all use less screen time and more connection. Who couldn’t?
3. Eat well.
Swap one meal a day for something solely and wholly nutritious. No more easy outs for lunch. Avoid the burgers and fries, swap it for salads full of veggies and natures goodness. I love them but get too lazy to prepare it every day (hoping those improved sleep patterns mentioned above might help with this). This will actually be the hardest step. I am NOT in any way shape or form a morning person, and I am also a complete carb lover…. Wish me luck on this one.
4. Make time for me.
I don’t mean shopping or watching tv or going to the spa. I mean time for me to be aware, mindful and present. A once a week window reserved for focusing on my ins and outs and leaning into them without so much fear. Spring is a great time for cleaning house. Time to get a little deeper. This is the closet I am aiming to clean out. Change is never comfortable and I, my friends, have been way too comfortable.
5. Be positive, stay positive. Be thankful.
I will try to focus on a positive mantra every morning in hopes of beginning my day with a good attitude, and end each day with the positive and thankful prayer for the blessings I have been given. If you have any Mantra suggestions to bring about the positive every day, share them with me. I could use all the help I can get. Focusing on what is wrong is much easier for me than focusing on what is wonderful in life.
These are seemingly small changes, that can have a big impact. Some people use the new year to start their resolutions, to redirect and change habits but I have never been successful there. Spring is a time of change, and growth, and birth for Mother Earth, and if it works for her, it can work for me, right? I mean she’s been doing it successfully for a lifetime…if that’s not inspiration I don’t know what is.
That’s it. Baby steps. It may not seem like much but to me, they are baby steps that can carry me into forward motion and hey world, once I get moving, watch out!
Welcome Spring! My heart has missed you. I look forward to blooming with you. Breathe with the earth, align your breath with hers and great things can happen, big and small.
Joan Poirier is an Empath, a goddess, a woman, a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend. She is you, and she is me. Just a real woman, embracing her age and her wisdom, and not afraid of opening the dam and making some waves during her short time on the wild ride of life. She is on an ever-growing quest to live better, do better, be better and taking all the lumps that go with it.