It seems like spring is playing a joke on me.
One day it woos me with t-shirt temperatures, the next day it irritates me with degrees dipping into winter coat levels.
It’s a beautiful sunny day today where I live, but the wind continues to remind me to wear my down sweater.
However, there are many who live by the calendar.
May is springtime, whether the degrees reflect it or not. Shorts-be-worn despite tingling kneecaps.
But not me! Regardless of the date, if cold persists, I run for cover under my heated blanket and sing Ed Sheeran’s words, “I’m holding out for spring. We can’t let winter win,” to try to coax warmer temperatures to persist.
Regardless of the oscillations, when spring finally does grace us with more consistent temperatures, we all let out a collective sigh of relief.
Crocuses, daffodils, and tulips start to unfold amidst leftover autumn leaves, birds forage the ground, aerating it in preparation for greening, and neighbours throw a wave to one another as they dig out their garden tools.
At this point, spring settles into some level of predictability. No more joking, no more teasing us with variations.
Our bones don’t need to chatter, our arms don’t need to cross into protective mode, and our shoulders can relax into that long exhale, signifying that spring has finally arrived with the greening power of viriditas.
Viriditas is a Latin word meaning greenness, which is often associated with vitality, and refers to the lushness of plant life and the power of growth. It represents the greening of plant life in the spring.
Hildegard von Bingen, a German Benedictine abbess during the Middle Ages, who was a gifted mystic and visionary, brought richness to the word viriditas through her writings and musical compositions.
She believed springtime offers us renewal. “There is a power that has been since all eternity, and that force and potentiality is green!” she wrote nearly 1,000 years ago.
Hildegard believed this life-giving force permeates all living things.
Every spring I contemplate the word viriditas when I see the gentle eruption of tiny greening buds. It reminds me that we too can allow a newness to unfold in our own personal awareness and growth.
But let’s bring our thoughts down from such lofty heights to a more practical level.
Temperatures aside, springtime is that time of the year when we engage in some spring cleaning – both literal and proverbial.
It’s a time for investigating that which we add to/take away from/keep doing or hanging onto.
Recently, I’ve been seeing several lists people like to fill out online, including more/less, in/out, away/toward, and what stays/what goes.
What’s more, many books have been written about the art of tidying up, decluttering, and letting go of that which doesn’t resonate with you anymore.
Recently, a full basement renovation – due to a leaky faucet – necessitated the act of sorting and getting rid of that which long ago outlived its usefulness or appeal. Elimination and destruction needed to precede my new creation.
When I look at what’s greening in nature, I see new growth pushing through the remains of last fall’s cleanup, remnants of dried leaves and twigs.
I assist the viriditas process by plucking these leftover vestiges of last year, giving space for new year’s blooming.
Do you think you’d benefit from filling out a love/don’t-love-anymore list?
Time has a way of moving us through stages in life seamlessly, as windows of enlightenment stare us in the face or pass us by.
Sometimes we see them, but most times we don’t! Then one day it says, “You haven’t accomplished this learning yet. Let’s try it another way!”
Nature’s messaging can be subtle until it isn’t, and then it hits us over the head with a more persuasive level of awareness.
This is when it’s helpful to look at those kinds of lists.
With that in mind, here are some poignant questions to ponder:
- What is your most limiting factor?
- How does your life reflect viriditas?
- What fills you with joy and what doesn’t?
- What is greening in your life and what isn’t?
- What aids you or what stands in the way of your forward movement?
- What has appeared in your life that has triggered you to get moving and how can you do more of that?
Children are a great example of this kind of forward movement. They have much to learn in a relatively short period of time in their early years.
But they don’t ponder the should I/shouldn’t I list. They launch into new learning with a vengeance.
And when they gain some level of accomplishment they move on.
Adults assume this is either due to boredom or a short attention span, but that’s not necessarily the case, as their list tends to be simple, and basically consists of learned/moved on.
If they love what they learned, intuitively they will revisit that topic for deeper learning, and if they don’t love it, they’ll quickly find something else that interests them.
Their lack of ego keeps them free to explore without needing to prove anything, and the smallest shift can be an adventure of trying something new.
Life is simple and uncomplicated until it isn’t.
But we can all learn to let go of that which doesn’t serve us anymore and move on to something altogether different.
About Vivian
Visionary storyteller, Vivian Hitchman, authors inspirational, imaginative, and empowering works, with a focus on helping people understand life’s meanderings.
Through her writings, she encourages kids to be resilient and steadfast against negative input, helping them to find the positives in their experiences.
Applying her years of experience and expertise as a life coach, Vivian challenges readers to move beyond their limiting beliefs, negative self-talk, and destructive patterns of behaviour, helping them gain greater resiliency and fulfillment in their lives.
