Round And Round

Image by Josep Castells

We’ve had a lot of rain lately where I live, which is unusual for this time of year, and it’s been wonderful to see grasses and wildflowers in bloom this late in the season. I’ve enjoyed taking in the riot of color, the array of blooms and stalks, the buzzing insects and the copious wildlife on my morning walks lately, marveling that this spring-like vibe is still happening in June. Of course, like any season, it won’t last. I spied my first cicadas this morning, and I know without a doubt, it’s about to get hot here. But, that’s the way of things, isn’t it?

Image by Cas Holmes

Our world is full of cycles and seasons, a constant dance of change and renewal. Sometimes the shifts are gradual and gentle, others swift and seemingly destructive. Whatever the path, our ecosystem contains everything it needs to renew itself, which is an incredible wonder. And so do we.

I’ve been thinking a lot about cycles and seasons and change lately. I’m sure some of that has to do with the close of another school year and the start of summer break, with wrapping a draft and beginning another, with witnessing all the graduations, the major life shifts, the births and deaths and growth of dreams and people. The conversations around the ever-changing landscape, the social tides, the new technologies, the old fashions, and everything in between.

Change is constant. Cycles continue. And there is a beauty in that. An encouragement to be in the now, with the now. To enjoy everything a particular season has to offer, even as we shift into another.

Image by Léonard Cotte

These next few weeks are a kind of liminal space, a shoulder season as Spring moves into summer. I love how the moon is waning along with the season. How we’ll have a new moon just before the Summer Solstice. How even Nature supports the journey with her cycles and rhythms.

This is a wonderful time to reflect on what has come before, and consider what is to come. To really examine what’s on our proverbial plates and consider its useful or relevance at this time and in this season. To consider releasing what no longer supports, and serving ourselves (and our proverbial plates) with things that do. We cannot fight change. The seasons will shift, the children will grow, the flowers will die, the grasses will go to seed. Some things will be harvested, others planted, others tended. Many things can exist at once, and all of them are in a constant state of change.

Here’s to celebrating the shifts, to embracing the flow of change and to making the most of the seasons and moments we are in – even as they become the next now.