Tag: Lent

Keeping your Balance

Last week, I was at a meeting in a local church and the lady sitting next to me asked why the building was devoid of any decoration or flowers. Even the statuary was covered in purple cloth. ‘It is because it’s coming up to Easter’, I replied, though I had forgotten the details. Through the period of Lent, the church and its congregation use the time for reflection and so simplify their places of worship and their own lives. Some may practice fasting or ‘give up’ a luxury. Most other religions too have dates set aside for spiritual development allied with physical denial, such as Ramadan.

Deep in prayer Image: Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash

Perhaps you do not have a spiritual practice that requires such abstinence or perhaps you have no spiritual practice at all. Either way, I don’t think that we need one to remind us that it is valuable to set aside time to take stock of our lives and to learn a little resilience and self-discipline by doing without now and again.

Nature knows best

While I was contemplating this world-wide phenomenon of periods of rest followed by bursts of activity, I thought about how this is exactly what happens in the natural world. As winter advances, trees shed their leaves and enter a state of dormancy while storms rage and snow falls. They are not being idle however, but rather gathering their strength for the magnificent display of new growth and flowering that is spring.

The pear tree bursting into life
Image: Karen Costello-Mcfeat

Without enduring the harsh winter months, such a brilliant display would not be possible. And we too are creatures of the Earth who need to find a balance between dormancy and regeneration.

Losing balance

Ironically, having finally settled on this subject for my post, I fell foul of the very problem I was going to write about. After several weeks of frantic activity, wonderful socialising and simply doing too much, my body protested and simply shut down. MS is very helpful at reminding you when you need to rest. It doesn’t let you do anything else. So, cancelling some lovely social plans, I took myself to bed and slept and dozed. Reading and even watching the television was beyond me. I required zero stimulation. Luckily, my husband was home early to take care of the dog.

This morning, I awoke super early, refreshed and ready for the day. I was also suitably chastised and know that I must pace myself more carefully from now on. Fortunately, we are on the brink of the bank holiday weekend and I have nothing more planned than gardening, house tidying and eating Easter treats.

Perfect balance Image: Loic Leray on Unsplash

Bucking the 24/7 culture

Modern living doesn’t promote balance in life. Rather, it promotes the notion that we must have whatever our heart desires in minutes or, at worst, the next day. We have lost the joy of anticipation and of waiting. And with that, we have lost much of what brings true satisfaction. Instant gratification is followed very quickly by its opposite. So, we click and click again in search of that elusive high.

Only when we can step back and draw on the wisdom of nature and ancient spiritual practices can we see that waiting, even doing without, is not a punishment but a preparation. Anyone with even the most basic understanding of economics will tell you that value is set on the basis of supply and demand. When supply is ubiquitous, value tumbles. When supply is limited, it soars.

For most of us, time is our most valuable asset. We bemoan its lack while frantically filling our days with tasks of dubious value. Just as we are told that we should have everything immediately, we are also expected to fill every day with Instagrammable moments. Our fear of missing out propels us to visit one more event, to engage in one more outing even when we know our batteries are low. After all, spending an afternoon sitting quietly in the garden enjoying the birdsong and the touch of sun on your face is unlikely to generate many ‘likes’. And this is precisely where the market wants us to be – endlessly consuming goods and experiences since that is, after all, what generates profits.

But we are not automatons. We have choices and need to have the courage to follow the path that works for us. I am hardly advocating ‘dropping out’ or wearing a hair shirt. What I suggest is that we take this little holiday to re-evaluate what really matters to us.

Like the dormant trees in winter, the period of Lent ends in a riot of celebration: flowers and feasting and colourful spring clothes. Our moments of stillness refresh and nurture us so that the following abundance can be truly enjoyed. If we can keep our balance, we really can have it all.

Happy Easter!

Wishing you a joyful Easter Image: Mark Olsen on Unsplash

Celebrating the Season

Of all the seasons, spring is definitely my favourite. From around mid January, I start yearning for the Earth to wake up, to display all the delicious blooms and blossoms it has been cultivating in the dark for months. This year my longing for spring has been especially acute, but at last it is almost here.

The first day of spring varies from whether you take a meteorological point of view or an astrological one. (How confusing!?) The meteorologists mark it as the 1st of March and the season ends neatly on the 31 May. It’s the same every year and convenient to measure. Astrologically, though, the beginning of spring varies a tiny bit. Here spring is marked from the occurrence of the vernal equinox -when the sun crosses over the equator and begins its steady climb northward. As the Northern Hemisphere is now tilted in the direction of the sun, the days will become warmer and lighter.

Here comes the sun! Image: Patrick on Unsplash

For me, the second makes most sense, tied as it is to Nature’s rather than Man’s calendar. Though we already have some spring flowers – little flags of hope – true spring is not yet with us. Only when the sun is firmly in our quadrant, can we look forward with some certainty to warmer, longer days ahead. This year, spring arrives on Saturday 20th and I am making plans to welcome it.

Spring festival

Spring has been celebrated since time immemorial. And with good reason. Surviving winter in the past was no mean feat: starvation and sickness were the hallmarks of the season. In Poland, where winters are particularly harsh, their spring festival involves a parade carrying a straw effigy of Marzanna – goddess of winter, plague and death – which ends with its ritual drowning in the river. This symbolic death of winter makes way for the the life-giving hope of spring.

In warmer climes, spring is welcomed with exuberance. In India, Holi is celebrated with a riot of colour – mainly on other people. In Japan, families sit under the frothy profusion of cherry blossom, enjoying picnics and this ethereal, passing beauty. In Persia, they begin Nowruz, their New Year. I used to go to a gorgeous Persian cafe in town, which brought the celebration to its customers – including goldish in an ornate bowl, sprouting seeds and, it goes without saying, delicious food.

Goldfish are symbols of life Image: Ahmed Rizkhaan on Unsplash

In the West, of course, our spring festival is encapsulated in Easter. Spring was originally called Lent – a shortened version of the Old English Lencten or the lengthening of days. It became bound with the forty days of reflection and preparation for Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday which we call Lent today. The more secular spring became fixed by the sixteenth century. And I like that the season contains both associations.

A time of growth

For true renewal to take place, we need to shed our old layers – literally and metaphorically. As the spring sunshine points out all the accumulated dust and dirt acquired over the winter season, we are prompted to spring clean, washing, dusting, emptying cupboards and discarding the old and the worn.

We may resurrect our spring clothes from boxes in the loft or purchase new ones; we may invest in bigger purchases with the optimism that they will bring a new life of sorts too.

But if we focus only on the material, we are missing the opportunity to spring clean our minds and spirits. Though I do not observe Lent in the traditional sense, I have used this time to increase my meditation and spiritual practice. I am trying (and struggling) with forgiveness. I’ve lived long enough to have been hit by plenty of the ‘slings and arrows’ not only of misfortune but insensitivity, unkindness or indifference. And these are burdens – dark spaces that lurk within me. Spring provides the perfect opportunity to open the windows wide and let the sunlight in. A spring clean of the soul will bring more joy than any tidy cupboard, no matter how well organised.

A time of flowering

My favourite definition of spring is ‘to burst forth’ – as water does from its underground stream; as a coil does when released; as a bulb does once it has pushed its way through the burnt umber earth to explode in the brilliance of the hyacinth or narcissus.

And we too can become these blooms – radiant and giving. Mehmet Murat Ildan put it rather wonderfully when he said, ‘When you smell a spring flower, it’s as if the soul of that flower settles inside you! And then you become that flower for a short time!” It is time to smell the flowers, for a flower is never a bad thing to be.

Its beauty is there for everyone to enjoy. It holds no grudge against the hand that picks it, for spring flowers regather their strength in their bulbs to return next year. Winds buffet them, but they bend and nod their heads. If we learn from them, and take their cue, our spring can be a real opportunity for renewal and rebirth. Part of my spring ritual involves gathering these blooms and inhaling their scent. They will be at the centre of my spring celebration on Saturday. That and planting seeds. It’s time.

Be more flower! Image: Karen Costello-McFeat