The reward for expanding awareness to our greater environment, as it unfolds, is that it helps you anchor yourself in time and place.

Mindfulness + environment = meta-mindfulness It’s the promise of adventure before reality sets in.” It’s going to the airport to take a flight. “It’s getting up in the morning to get on the road. “You know what spring is?” rhetorically asked my wife, who loves spring above the other seasons and is occasionally an accidental poet. While we enjoy more daylight, blooming flowers and the breeze on our skin after being covered for so long, we should also consider how vital those things are to our basic needs as humans. Instead, embrace the genesis it imparts over the Earth. Taking a lesson from our ancestors, we shouldn’t take the power of spring for granted, either. Rabbits and colorful eggs are metaphors for procreation, new beginnings and a promise for what’s to come.Ĭhange, the double-edged sword that's worth mastering That holiday’s roots date to the ancient goddess Eostre (from the region that is now Germany), who was accompanied by a magical egg-laying hare. And the Indian holiday of Holi brings winter to a Technicolor close.Ĭhristians celebrate a literal return from death (according to their faith) by Jesus at Easter. Passover is a spring holiday that celebrates the brightness that follows the dark days of slavery. In Russia, the spring holiday of Maslenitsa (aka Pancake Week!) is a sun festival with singing, dancing, warm beverages, jingle bells, bonfires and lots of pancakes. The 13-day Persian festival of Nowruz (“new day” or “New Year”) is also celebrated by cleaning one’s house, filling it with flowers and giving gifts, and on the last day by staying outdoors. In Thailand, I once celebrated Songkran, the water-throwing New Year festival held every April, when Thais also clean their houses for good luck. How to hack the week so any day is your favorite day (even Monday) Courtesy Everett CollectionĬREDIT: 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection 20th Century Fox/Everett Collection

THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Julie Andrews, 1965, TM and Copyright ©20th Century-Fox Film Corp. The luck-infused Chinese New Year is celebrated after the second full moon after the winter solstice and ends in a parade of dragons and fireworks that scares away the bad spirits.

Spring is rebirth after the long death of winter, and traditional cultures didn’t take the return of food and better weather for granted. It’s time to declare a fresh start!īecause spring is as old as the planet, ancient religious traditions have evolved around its meaning. It’s a great time to draw a line in the sand and renew those long-term goals you may have already let slip. In some cultures and traditions, the start of spring is the start of the new year. Dopamine - a neurotransmitter associated with attention, motivation, pleasure and mood - seems to increase with more exposure to sunlight.įorget January resolutions. Research suggests that for many people, the extended daylight boosts mood, well-being and energy. There’s even some science to the joy of spring. Photo credit should read: James Warwick/EMPICS Entertainment James Warwick/EMPICS Entertainment/PA Images/Reuters Daffodils bloom in the Arboretum, Nottingham on the second day of Astronomical Spring which began on the day of the Spring Equinox.

Hopey i will not need to edit it more