As I watch all the beautiful birds fly around my yard in the morning, they seem especially cheerful today. The sky is blue. The temperature is a balmy 70 degrees. The water in the fountain trickles. And I feel so good, so positive.
How are you this early spring? Are you taking good care of yourself? Do you eat what serves you best? Do you get out in nature and take walks? This is a great time to do a little housekeeping to be sure that you are living your best life. What do you need to adjust, revise, or enhance?
As I watch the birds build their nests, I think about how that nest is the foundation for spring where they lay their eggs and raise their young. After they teach their progeny to fly away on their own, there is no longer a need for that nest. I occasionally find a discarded nest in my yard that has fallen from the tree.
What does this have to do with you? Now’s the time to create your new nest, a time to refresh and restart from where you are right now in dealing with your grief. What do you need to make your nest strong? The first thing you need is a safe, strong place to build your nest. A nest can’t survive without the strength of solid branches. What holds you up? How about unconditional love? Love is powerful and remains even after loved ones die. Find a safe spot in a tree that feels like home.
Now that you have the ideal place, you can gather what you want to be surrounded with and experience to hold you up. Start with your integrity. When all you do and say is true, you have great strength and confidence, so integrity is a great base for the nest.
Add some forgiveness branches to bring you comfort. When you forgive anyone or anything you see you need to, that ties together your branches with the comfort that comes from forgiveness, especially when you forgive yourself.
The courage you have to build a safe nest helps you feel secure. The patience it takes to collect all the materials you need makes creating your nest a joy. Focusing intently on the process of your creation makes it the best it can be. Being grateful for the ones contributing materials to weave into your creation helps you and your contributors to build strength in your relationships.
When the nest is almost complete, you can fill in any gaps with humility and compassion. Then you can enjoy the beauty of your creation. You can invite loved ones in and nourish them with the strength of your generosity. Now you can enjoy your spring while you recognize and practice all these wonderful qualities and you move forward.
Paying attention to strengthening the qualities you already have and developing new, beautiful qualities into your life gives you a great foundation for moving forward in making each moment you get to experience now the very best it can be.
Writing this blog reminded me of the words to an Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rogers song, from the musical Carousel, that brings me strength:
When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho’ your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone.
You are stronger that you think. Build your new, beautiful nest, and walk on . . .
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