Beauty, Rebirth & Cycles

Welcoming the first day of Spring.

Mar 17, 2025

The sky has been overcast the past few days, and buds are starting to return to the trees. Soon, new leaves will begin unfurling, and the brief glimpses I get from my apartment window of passing cars will end. Views of the distance will become obstructed by nearby beauty. In a few weeks, everything will be colorful and dense.

Spring feels like the arrival of a lover. It returns with the birds' songs in the morning and the crickets' chirps come evening. And if you have the eye for it, it’s a reminder the world gives so much more than it could ever take. Rebirth is all around. Everything starts anew.

This year was the first time in a long time that I felt the winter would never end. There’s purpose in that time of year, of course - to contract - reducing output in the face of the season’s vicious scarcity, and yet, the time spent turning my attention inward felt wretched, albeit necessary.

I cried.

I grieved.

I became unmoored.

Even when familiarity fades into dysfunction, parting is never easy.

I felt adrift. I had clear eyes to see what I was giving up and little certainty about what would take its place.

Does a seed, cradled in warmth, still fear the dark?

Does a stem resist the wind, fearing it might break?

Does a blossom fear the storm, dreading lost petals in the rain?

I’ve always wondered how a seed, when planted, knows which way is “up”. In the space of quiet isolation, how can something so small know where to find the great big sun? It turns out that at the cellular level, it responds to the gravity acting upon it. So, there’s no such thing as upside down or the wrong way; no matter what, it will correct itself.

It seeks the resistance and moves against it.

Maybe that is the quiet wisdom of growth. Whether the discomfort comes from a season of frigid introspection or in finding which way is up, the contraction of the moment - gravity - begs for a response. And if you have the eye for it, you’ll see it everywhere: the world gives more than it takes, and everything starts anew.

The discomfort is part of it.

The uncertainty is part of it.

But then, out comes the sun.

Enjoy the change.