By Barton Goldsmith
Tribune News Service
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Yes, you can try to ignore the calendar, but you can’t really ignore nature! As therapist Barton Goldsmith points out, “If you haven’t moved on with your life, it’s time to come out of hibernation and find ways to be in the world in a way you haven’t in the past. And this is a great time to start.”
Tribune News Service
Okay, so you didn’t get to many of your New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps your winter coat has gotten a little too hefty, and that garden is still waiting to be planted.
Well, fear not my friends; we all get a second chance, because spring is here.
Spring is the season of growth and a time of new beginnings. The energy is happening all around you and within you. It’s another chance to begin again in many areas and appreciate the growth and changes that happen this time of year. It’s your chance to take in more of the positive and let go of any winter blues that may still be lurking around.
Yes, you can try to ignore the calendar, but you can’t really ignore nature. If you haven’t moved on with your life, it’s time to come out of hibernation and find ways to be in the world in a way you haven’t in the past. And this is a great time to start.
You may be compelled by these feelings of change and growth, or you may scoff at them. Either way, spring is in the air, and all the creatures on the planet are going through biological and psychological changes. You are no different.
With the first new blossom of spring can come a new job, graduation, your entrance into the big world, or the great American novel you’ve always wanted to write.
It is also an opportunity to grow inside. It’s easy to get inspired if you just take a moment to look around to see what’s coming into your life. Yes, things also leave, but that’s mostly to make room for something new. Things come and go, but if you focus on what’s on the way instead of what you feel you have lost, you can see that the world around you is starting to thaw. So take in the warmth.
Starting again is hard, and we need all the help we can get, so if you are inspired by the season and the new life around you, then use it. Take that feeling and internalize it, absorb it, and let it flow through your entire being. All you have to do is take a step and open up to the possibilities. Hope is so much more powerful than despair, and if it’s out there, you might as well hang on to it.
It’s all up to you. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that someone else is controlling you. Unless you are in chains, you can make your life better, and all it takes is a decision and the willpower to follow through.
I like fresh starts, and I’ll use whatever is around me to make them easier. We all reinvent our lives from time to time. If you have done it before and been successful, then you can do it again. If you feel you haven’t done so well in the past, you have an opportunity to change that.
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(Dr. Barton Goldsmith, a psychotherapist in Westlake Village, Calif., is the author of “The Happy Couple: How to Make Happiness a Habit One Little Loving Thing at a Time.”)
Kiera
April 16, 2017 at 5:15 am
wow!! I have no idea how I end up on this page but this message just gave me so much life and hope!! I also feel like this was written directly for me Thank you so very much!!! Kiera ~