Connecting to Spring in Challenging Times

by Holly Madden

This week, we celebrate the first day of Spring, the day that marks the halfway point between the shortest and longest day of the year. For some, our lands are beginning to awaken to spring. To walk outside and feel the warmth of the sun and see the brave first flowers of spring erupting from the land that’s been sleeping feels like relief. We made it.

And yet, we cannot wake up from the trauma of these times. The news reminds us of a world devoid of empathy. A world where leaders build on a foundation to subdue the earth instead of caring for these lands and its people. A world without respect.

As an ecotherapist in training, my heart is heavy for the violence and oppression in this world AND for the impact on mental health. Fear and anxiety are powerful and will consume. Social Justice leaders everywhere are tired. Grief is thick. And yet, the flowers are growing, the trees are awakening their buds kept safe during the winter months, animals are waking up from their long sleep, and we begin to welcome back the migratory neighbors who winter in warmer climates. When we step outside, we are surrounded by a world that continues to hope.

Author, leader, and member of the Potawatomi Tribe writes in her beautiful book Braiding Sweetgrass,
“Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.”

Our mental health and our activism depends on our connection to nature because we are not separate from the wild world, we are nature. The interconnection of relationships depends on our compassion and in return, the world gives us what we need to thrive.

Below are some ways we can intentionally connect to Spring in these challenging times:

• On a day when the sun feels warm, take your shoes off and stand outside on the earth barefoot facing the sun. Notice what you can hear, feel, smell, taste, and see. Practice this regularly.

• Prepare your garden. Spending time tending to plants is incredibly therapeutic and provides a connection to earth.

• Volunteer at a park, community garden, or protected nature space. This time of year there is a lot of land preparation that is needed.

• Intentionally sit near a window while you work (if possible) to give yourself the opportunity to look outside and connect to the sunshine, the sky, the birds, and trees. We do not need to venture to remote natural spaces to feel a deep connection to the world, urban nature is nature.

• Caring for indoor plants is a beautiful way to connect to the the wild world, and to the themes of growth and nurturing all year. In the spring, consider propagating your house plants and giving cuttings to those you love.

• On a day off, go for a hike. Again, you don’t have to venture to a remote location to connect to the wild. Visit a local park or protected nature space. My favorite place to hike is 5 min away from my neighborhood. I love visiting this place regularly because it gives me a chance to watch the world change around me in the seasonal shifts of time. It’s deeply spiritual for me to see the same trees move through each season or watch the deer families grow or see the way the bird population shifts with seasonal migratory neighbors.

• Read nature poetry. My favorite poet of all time is Mary Oliver. But there are so many beautiful poets out there who share advocacy and a love of the wild with beautiful words. Consider reading a poem a day.

• Creating nature art is a beautiful way to connect to the wild world. Consider taking your art outside to draw, doodle, paint, sew, or craft. If creativity feels stressful to you, buy or print out nature coloring pages. You can also create art using nature elements outdoors like painting rocks, building a mandala out of fallen sticks, leaves, seashells, flowers, etc. or creating abstract art using colors you see outside.

• Talk about the importance of our connection to world to whatever platforms or spaces you have the opportunity to lead out in. Advocacy is never wasted.

• Watch nature documentaries or admire nature photography.

• Learn about the history of the land you are on.

• Open your windows to let in the fresh air and spend time listening to the wind and the birds.

• Feed the birds outside your windows.

• Let your yards be more wild, waiting to cut your lawn till the days are warm and flowers are plentiful, spread wildflower seeds, let plants grow instead of dictating what plants stay and what doesn’t. You will notice a rewilding happen around you as your wild lawn brings more of our neighbors to visit.

Remember that nature is a time of coexistence. Death and new life. Freezing and warm temperatures. Beautiful days and destructive storms. Let these themes connect with you and support you in your personal life and in your leadership.

Here is a poetry offering to honor this season. I invite you to read it sitting in the sunshine, with your feet on the earth, or listening to the wind.

Oh Spring Sun

Oh spring sun,
Beaming warmly down 
On what feels like waking up. 

In the dark of our season-less disconnection,
Our bodies winter 
In emotion.

Some call it seasonal depression,
Others articulate it as grief felt 
In body 
From being pulled away from the sun. 

This come back,
This warm up,
This reunion, 
Is felt in flowers. 
In every hue of green.
In rain that falls as nourishment 
On land thirsty after rest. 

We bring into spring 
An energy that tastes like hope. 

Winter is the world’s grief 
That holds space for the birth of flowers and babes,
Winter teaches the species 
How to cycle in waves of flourishing 
And waves of rest. 
Winter is our surviving,
And yet we forget 
That spring is the time to celebrate
How we have survived. 

Sometimes spring looks like the month of March. 
Sometimes it looks like a new start. 
Sometimes it looks like the act of release. 
Sometimes it looks like seeing color after a time spent in the grave. 
Sometimes it looks like answers.
And sometimes it looks like acceptance that answers will never come. 

May we cherish the seeds that are held in our winters, 
That only bloom once frost has touched the earth. 
May we look to the way the sun beams 
And welcome our homecoming,
For she always welcomes us home,
And we call it Spring. 

-Holly Rose Madden