Springtime buds and buddies

Waking up with the image of a young seedling, a tender green shoot emerging from dark fertile soil, feels apt. It’s Springtime and the day of April’s Monthly Mandala Workshop.

We focus on the theme of ‘new’ and ‘old’, wrapped around Anais Nin’s quote:

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom”.

Before drawing our world into being through taking a dot for a circular walk, we think about the pain of new growth versus old familiar pain. Sometimes this old pain still has the power to stop us in our tracks yet the invitation of Spring is renewal. As the season turns, nature invites us to look again in wonder, modelling new growth, a sort of neuroplasticity at work!  

There are plentiful interfaith festivals this month marking birth, death and renewal. Here the elements of fire and water are used within ceremony, corresponding too with the ancient Ayurvedic (Science of Life) calendar. This Ayurveda time of year marks a shift away from the cooler elements of earth and water that represent the principle of Winter, to the warmer ‘Pitta’ months ahead, the principle of fire and water.

The night sky is lit up with a Super Pink Moon on Saturday 16 April, as well as a New Moon either side of the month. The latter is a partial eclipse visible over the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, as well as parts of South America and Antartica.

On the day of Monthly Mandala, I enjoy waking up with the image of the bud, it feels full of life. I think about the new projects in my life, then notice my inner talk. It sounds harsh and too fiery. An example of old pain creeping in under the radar, rather than thinking about how I can nurture and water this young plant.

At the beginning of each month, the Monthly Mandala Workshop invites a reconnection to think about the tracks of our lives, where we are and where we want to go. Our ancestors knew how to read tracks, and we hold this Paleolithic genome deep inside.

The invitation of Springtime is to connect with tenderness to new growth and new ways of being in the world. It is an opportunity to be kinder to old pain and to find reasons for celebration, however small, even if it is gratitude of a bud emerging into flower.

I am reminded later that a buddy is a companion and faithful friend so perhaps we can practise this for ourselves and others?