Spring Ahead

SPRING AHEAD

I think the gray squirrel in my backyard is the incarnation of the devil. I go out to chase him, waving my arms and yelling. He looks at me defiantly, like “What are you going to do about it? You have no power here!” Can a squirrel laugh? This one does, as he chews off the new buds of my maple tree. Something is filling him with a fiendish energy, a power beyond fear. What is the strange elixir he is running on? Why, it’s Spring Fever! 

It is an energy that makes heroes of us all. It fills us with ambition and power and lust, all at once. It makes us nervous and anxious, happy and amorous, all at once. Truly, Spring Fever is a strange wind in our sails. Spring, or the spring equinox occurs when the sun shines directly above the earth’s equator, causing day and night to be equal lengths of time. It has been celebrated for many centuries throughout every known culture of man. We have egg balancing in China to cultivate good luck, pot throwing in Greece to ward off the bad spirits of winter; we have the buttered lambs of Russia, and the scrambled eggs of bosnia, a wild festival of colors in India and even the chocolate bunnies in the US. Universally we celebrate this time of renewal. 

Certainly the traditions are fun, but what is the real impact of spring? It is certainly a time of more light. We are more creative in the spring. We sense possibility that wasn’t available during the long winter. It is a wave of goodwill signaling a time of renewal. It is the opportunity to rid ourselves of all of the unwanted baggage of winter and travel lightly again. 

I’ve often thought it makes no sense to try to make resolutions in the dead of winter, the grimmest time of the year. The time for new projects and initiatives is now! Spring really is a wave we can ride, an energy we can harness toward our goals and dreams. Think about the outcomes you want for this year. Take a moment, while you’re standing in the light of a beautiful day to reset and renew your intentions. In this, the king of seasons, you will gain the energy and enthusiasm that you need to restart. Whether your mission is a new relationship or a new business, now is the time to light it up. 

Here’s the only work you have to do: start dreaming! Start imagining your goal as already accomplished. Fill your mind with pictures and images of having what you want and the world celebrating you for it. You know you can do that much, and that much is enough. 

The squirrel may be running on his own elixir of fiendish energy, but we have something even more powerful: the human spirit, fueled by the indomitable power of Spring Fever.

Suggested Reading

• Resourceful States of Mind
• The Neuroscience of Manifestion