The seasons provide wisdom for reaching inner peace and keep repeating this wisdom year after year. But do we lift our heads up to notice, to get the message? Or, do we stay with head down, eyes shut, carrying on our usual complaining: “It is too cold,” “It is too hot,” “The leaves this year are not that bright,” “We hardly had a Spring”…

Spring: a time for rebirth.

March: the unpredictable month that brings the stir for awakening.

March 21 st is widely recognized as the beginning of Spring. However, if you live at a location on earth where you get to experience the four seasons, you know that hardly anything is springing in March. March is merely nature’s first alarm in awaking vegetation, like the sensation when the first ray of sun touches our closed eyelids in the early morning.

I read somewhere that the transition to Spring can be the most painful time in awakening vegetation. Similarly for humans, often the transition to inner awakening is through painful emotion and experience. For us, the symbolism that March carries can be as smooth as the ray of sun stroking our eye lids, or as painful as a sudden transition that carries fear, anxiety, depression, or panic.

If any of these unpleasant states are active in us, and we have not fallen into the trap of getting used to them – making them our constant companions and part of our life – the most helpful response is to see them for what they are: alarms. It is most helpful to trust, embrace and learn to respond to them. Their only intent is to warn us that something is out of order in our lives.

Just like when a house or fire alarm goes off and we check to see what has either been invaded or caught fire, these emotions, these inner alarms, need to be utilized. After the alarm goes off and we identify the danger, then we turn it off and take whatever immediate action is necessary. In the same way, these inner alarms will be rendered useless until we learn to respond to them.

We respond to our inner alarms by learning to interpret the messages they bring. This is the only way to help extinguish the fire they carry, which burns our energy up. Their messages announce when the time has come to make necessary changes and adjustments in our lives.

What are we doing that we no longer want to do? What are we not doing that we want to do? Answering these two questions, and then putting the answers into practice, can open the door to our inspiration, intuition, and creativity – states that unfold our spirit, bringing us back to life.

So, March, with its stirring, can be the most significant month of the year for outer and inner opportunities in awakening.