The Spring Melt

It's fully upon us.

That doesn’t mean winter is done with us. Sometimes this is more like “Fake Spring,” but the mountains of snow in the yard are smaller each day.

The tops of the garden beds are now visible again.

Dead leaves, slushy grass, big puddles that were once frozen over, sticks hidden under feet of snow, all become visible.

The melt is messy, but that’s all part of the process.

The light shifts.

It’s a good time to take a bit of stock. See what’s under all that. See what’s illuminated.

I’ve got a pretty long self-coaching guide just about ready to publish, the longest one yet, but before I do, I think it’s important to give another moment to the stillness of winter.

Because, despite the melting and the promise of the growing season, the warm sun on my face, the soft breeze…it’s still, officially, winter.

And it hasn’t been an easy one.

Let’s take a moment to breathe.

It might be just a moment, maybe while you’re reading this.

Think over the last couple of months.

If you work in a field where you do things by the quarter, make sure you’re updating lists of things you accomplished and projects you contributed to.

And if you don’t, it’s a nice time to think a bit about what you came into the year with and where you’re at now.

Did you make resolutions? Did you choose a word of the year?

If you made resolutions, do they need to change?

If you chose a word of the year, is it still working?

It’s actually ok to change these.

Changing isn’t failure.

To me, it’s self-awareness in action.

That means it’s a win.

I did not choose a word of the year this year. Instead, I chose a word of the quarter with the intent to reassess around the end of March.

I chose “softness.”

I chose this word because I wanted to cultivate more softness, not just in terms of getting enough rest, but also in terms of how I viewed myself and how I behaved in relation to others.

Softness doesn’t mean no accountability or boundaries.

For me, it’s meant more compassion, which sometimes means tough love.

It means saying the hard things with spaciousness and grace.

It means listening more, to myself, to others.

I’m thinking a lot about connection and community and how to hold myself in relationship to each, while staying true to my integrity.

Doing this has allowed some deep healing to take place.

I haven’t shared much here about the last two years, but in my personal life, it has been a lot. A lot of Hard Stuff, a lot of grieving, and now, finally, I feel the shift that comes when the inner work starts to pay off, when the healing is taking root.

As a result, some of my rougher edges have softened. More stable boundaries have found their place.

I’m feeling more balanced. I’m getting more out of my time because I have more energy, and I’ve been able to tap into wise discernment in all kinds of ways that, when things were just plain Really Hard, were not always available.

I’m going to share a lot about that trifecta: balance, time & energy, and discernment, in the next self-coaching guide.

But for now, this is just an invitation to reflect on winter.

In my research field, play studies, we talk about how deep learning and integration come in when we prioritize space for reflection.

So before we dive into spring, into planting and growing and all that doing, this week’s blog is an invitation to think a bit about the first months of the year.

Or, if you like, go back further.

See what comes up. Invite shifts.

You don’t need a new calendar year to make a change or choose a word.

Sometimes you just need a moment to think things over.

See what’s underneath all that snow.

See what’s in that space where, in the coming weeks, we’ll plant.

The thaw continues.

See if you can meet it, yourself, your Q1, however you think of this bit of reflection and what’s revealed, with a bit of softness, if that feels right for you.

Whatever you find is a great place to start.

I’d love to know how it goes.

Reduced tarot experiences available through the end of March!