Changing Rhythms

The miner’s lettuce came up really early this year. And the snowdrops, the first bulb that blooms each year. The mallow and mustard, too. It’s only January and there’s already narcissus blooms decorating the dining room. We feel the changes in our usual rhythm that’s happening over the last four years or so. What’s the lesson in this? Can we be adaptable like the plants? Are we capable of disconnecting from the calendar creation of humanity and listen closely to these different rhythms?

Recently, I was speaking with someone who proclaimed her disappointment that the new year had not brought anything new as she expected. We have this false expectation that the calendar new year will somehow magically bring about a change, simply because the calendar has turned a page from December 2018 to January 2019.

I suggested that she may want to retreat from the habitually ingrained way of looking at the rhythm of the seasons and go inside to feel what is actually unfolding. The American culture has brainwashed us for centuries into following prescribed ways of living and relating to the natural world.

When I do Reiki, I often find it transports me into a different way of being in relation to time and space. My boundaries expand to include otherwise unfelt sensations and a unique quality of the experience of time.

I have a similar experience when I am in the garden. It’s a meditative space that comes over me when I am completely present with the plants, birds, water or other features that surround me.

Let’s sink into these ways of being and expand into the new relationship with the changing patterns that are happening now. Mother Earth is simply adjusting to a new rhythm. We can either be left behind and confused or follow along and see where She leads.