Tweet tweet

The birds are returning to chirp outside the kitchen window, a sure sign that spring is on its way. There is a upswing in the energy outside, as animals get ready to look for love and the seeds underground get ready for that powerful push upwards. It can be a challenging time to be human. We feel the excitement of what is to come, and start to plan ahead. At the same time, winter is hanging on and has drained us of our stores of energy over the past months.

A few hundred years ago, spring was called the starving season. For those who had made it through the long winter, food stores were running out but not enough new growth had come up yet to provide sustenance.

We don't experience a starving season of the body anymore, but energetically we certainly do. We are just as likely as those hungry ancestors to be depleted, not because of difficult external conditions but instead because of our internal state of being. We continue to work intensely over the winter while many other beings are resting. We use artificial light to make our days longer, while the natural world sleeps after the lights go out. And so, the upswing of energy in the spring can feel rough and uneven. Along with excitement we feel fatigue, irritation, and anger.

Soon, we will feel the sun on our skin again. In the meantime, don't forget to have compassion for your own tired, starving self.