Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt

Spring is Here! What Flowers and Blessings are You Planting in Your Gardens?

Your real-life green garden as well as the garden of your heart

Just as the world turns on its axis and brings about the return of the light turn after turn, we can rely on the return of our own light & energy and richness of our internal garden. ~Chloë Rain

Happy Spring!

March 20 was the first day of spring, also known as the Vernal Equinox.

Vernal means “of the spring”, “new” and “fresh.” The word equinox comes from the Latin aequus meaning equal and nox meaning night. On the Vernal Equinox, day and night are perfectly balanced. Twelve hours of each.

Since the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, the light has been steadily growing. But on March 20, it catches up with the darkness. It took three months to do that, but little by little, it stayed lighter later and got lighter earlier as well.

When it gets lighter and hence warmer, as the North Pole leans towards the sun, things start to grow.

Both Inside and Out

Outside obviously. New shoots poke up through the earth and even the snow if they have to. Early bloomers include daffodils, plum trees, and hyacinth. Where I live, spring came early. Yesterday on my walk I saw my first wisteria. They don’t usually blossom until April. Honeysuckle and ___ are also out in full force.

If it’s too early to plant a physical garden, plant a heart garden.

As it gets lighter and warmer, the internal focus of winter wanes. We crawl out from under three layers of blankets to stretch and start moving again. My sister’s turtle friends are waking up from their long winter nap of hibernation.

You may find you have more energy for play and creativity.

This is a healthy sign. Don’t ‘should’ all over yourself with pressure to work and produce. Honor and enjoy it. See what and how it wants to express through you and your uniqueness. Follow your heart and see what happens.

Exploring Deeply

Today I discovered a website called Explore Deeply. Its founder, an inspiring environmentalist and spiritual teacher, Chloë Rain, lives, works, and helps heal the planet in Norway, above the arctic circle.

She writes about the cycles and seasons and how we can live more in harmony with them, as well as with the earth. Here’s what she wrote about the Equinox and infusing ourselves with its energy:

It’s difficult to trust that your life has purpose and meaning even when you are not being productive, but it is the rhythms and cycles of Earth that show us and encourage us to rest in darkness and allow for the light to unfold us and help us blossom without forcing or making things happen.

Get that? We don’t have to make things happen every minute of the day. We get to take time to nourish ourselves, rest, relax, and play.

Doing that is productive. It produces more health and longevity than a workaholic lifestyle does.

We’re always planting and harvesting.

Our actions today plant seeds of health or illness, wealth or poverty, joy or pain that we’ll harvest in the future. So taking that walk, or drinking that water makes a huge difference in our tomorrows.

We can also plant seeds of emotional wellbeing in our hearts and consciousnesses. We do that when we rest and play. That’s why we have babies and animals in our lives. So we remember to move, explore and play.

Spring is the bastion of babies! Baby animals of course, and baby people too! Children come out in droves to jump in puddles, marvel at a dragonfly, and smell the flowers.

Which brings me to this week’s Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompt: What are you planting in your garden? Or gardens. They can be physical gardens, indoors or out. In containers or in the earth.

Or the gardens of our hearts and consciousnesses. They need tilling, seeding, and cultivating, too. Maybe even more so. Especially if we’ve been feeding them a steady diet of intense stressful news–easy to do, right?

Let me guess–I should go first?

Okay, I will, thanks!

My apartment does not afford me any garden space. My roommate, Aikya Param has a green thumb. So our light-filled dining room is blooming with Orchards and a Christmas Cactus who’s internal rhythm must be off. Which means we get to enjoy its lovely red blossoms.

But for the sake of this prompt, I will pretend I have a place to plant and the skills to sustain my garden.

First, I would plant sunflowers.

In case that’s not obvious, let me say I loved them long before Middle-Pause came along and adopted them as our emblem. And certainly, before I knew much at all about Ukraine and that its national flower is the sunflower.

Now this strong, light-chasing beacon of hope is the symbol of Ukraine’s resistance against the Russian Invasion. I wrote about that in my article, Strong and Resilient, in response to a prompt in the publication, Flint & Steel.

A special shout-out goes to their editor, Ellie Jacobson, who publishes our Middle-Pause Pump-Priming Prompts in Flint & Steel’s weekly newsletter, Sparks. Thank you, Ellie!

In addition to sunny sunflowers, I would plant herbs.

Easy to grow, hearty, aromatic herbs so I can snip leaves off and drop in stews and stirfries or brew as tea. Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, yes. But also lemon verbena, oregano, basil, and mint.

I would sit in my garden on a breezy day and let all those smells tickle my nostrils while sipping tea of rosemary and mint, writing in my journal. Something you would no doubt read here sooner or later…

In my journal, I’d plant my heart seeds.

Seeds like honesty, by owning what I’ve done that I’m not proud of to see where amends need to be made.

Seeds like courage so that when the time comes to speak an uncomfortable truth, I’m brave enough to let the words fly from my lips to the ears of those who need to hear them. Without flinching. Or, if I need to flinch, I still speak up.

Seeds like thoughts of peace to send out on the winds of the world so that they may go where they need to go. As well as planting them in my own heart so that I may be the peace I wish to see.

And seeds of love. Not just easy love. But tough love.

The kind of love that allows me to pray for Mr. Putin, that he may heal the deep wounding that causes him to act and act out the way he does. That he may have a change of heart and come to the negotiating table ready to talk real and lasting peace.

So that’s me. Now, it’s your turn.

Again the question: What are you planting in your garden? Or gardens. They can be physical gardens, indoors or out. Containers or in the earth.

Or the gardens of our hearts and consciousnesses.

Either one or both. Or anything about spring and what it means to you. We love hearing from our readers. And we so look forward to hearing from you!

What are you ‘too old’ or ‘too scared’ to do? Let me show you how!

Marilyn Flower writes humor to laugh the changes she wants to see and make. She’s the author of Creative Blogging: Ninja Writers Guide to Character Development and Bucket Listers, Get Your Brave On: How to Do the Thing You’re ‘Too Old’ & ‘Too Scared’ to Do. Clowning and improvisation strengthen her resolve during these crazy times. Follow my Sacred Foolishness and Stay in touch!