Somehow, it’s May already. The beautiful weather, bursting flower blossoms, and baby bird chirps make this month—in my opinion—the springiest of Spring months.
Recently, I’ve started consciously tuning into the energy of the seasons. All of us do this to some extent, whether we think about it or not. Have you ever felt the urge to spring clean or perhaps begin a new springtime project that you didn’t have the energy for previously? Those activities reflect nature’s rhythm of awakening. In spring, we’re coming out of winter sleepiness; our energy levels are usually higher; we have the urge to create, to tidy, to make new.
This is all well and good, but in the context of UUism, I think spring can give us energy (and bravery) to do a bit more. May’s theme is Curiosity, and UU minister Victoria Safford explores it in terms of perception. She says:
“To see, simply to look and to see, is an ethical act and intentional choice; to see, with open eyes, is a spiritual practice and thus a risk, for it can open you to ways of knowing the world and loving it that will lead to inevitable consequences. The awakened eye is a conscious eye, a willful eye, and brave, because to see things as they are, each in its own truth, will make you very vulnerable.”
To say there is a lot going on in the world is a laughable understatement. And it is easy—too easy, sometimes—to look away and think: that doesn’t affect me personally; I don’t have time for that; or there’s nothing anyone can do.
Similarly, there’s a lot going on in each of us personally, and sometimes it can be easier to ignore sources of discomfort instead of facing them head on and challenging them.
One of my favorite quotes hangs on my office wall. Below a butterfly, it reads, “put on your brave girl wings.” I rely on this concept often, from writing to parenting to dealing with irksome, unexpected, everyday situations. But it seems apropos of Spring’s energy, too. Sure we can use forces of rebirth and renewal to tidy our homes and workspaces. But might we also pull some of its strength to give us courage to see the world, to really see it, in Safford’s use of the term? What kinds of things might we discover? What might we do about them?
This month, I wish you all the wonderfulness and joy that Spring has to offer. And I invite you to pull on your own brave wings, and in doing so, to help others slip into their own. After all, bravery, much like fear, is contagious.
Norah Shalaway Carpenter, Board of Trustees