Since the mid nineties I’ve been chronicling cultural crankiness, commonly personified as “rage” by the media. From air rage to desk rage and road rage to web rage it seemed as if we had worked our way to the end of the alphabet until bailout rage came along last year and there we were, back to the beginning again.
But imagine an outbreak of zipper rage. Or a gardener in late summer falling prey to zucchini rage when the prolific veggies reach the proportions of the QEII. Might the rage trend end when we reach Z?
Well, it isn’t zucchini time yet. It’s spring, and if there’s a season when rage seems inappropriate it’s now, as nature pulses with life, filling our senses and refreshing our spirits with promises of renewal.
In the Midwest an unseasonably warm March gave spring a boost. Frogs came alive and plants flowered earlier than usual. The warmth has occasionally given way to colder temperatures, as always happens, and on those brisk days I’ve heard the rumblings of weather rage, sigh.
Life, like the seasons, ebbs and flows. Sometimes we enjoy abundance while other times we feel the pangs of want. Sometimes we make a bad decision and later must suffer the pangs of regret. Sometimes we revel in health and happiness while other times we grapple with illness or loss.
But just as seasons pass, so do life’s changes. Even after harsh experiences we find ourselves hoping for something better, new, or different. Such is the nature of learning, growing, healing.
Perhaps this spring you’ll think about how seasons parallel life and as spring blooms, you can let new aspects of yourself bud and blossom. Maybe if we could continually cultivate new growth and fully flower we’d all have more compassion and less crankiness, more happiness and less hassle, more rapture and less rage.
This spring I’m paying attention to, and appreciating nature’s simple, profound gifts and I plan on making it last. Maybe I’ll even savor the zucchini blossoms when they bloom this summer in case any cranky “ragers” out there go for the Z.
Simple Action: Make a commitment to enjoy a happy, healthy, and zesty spring and carry a sense of renewal with you through each season of this year.
In a world that encourages us to do it all, have it all and be it all, sometimes it’s fun to put the spotlight on other people instead of ourselves. Several years ago, cruising along a local country road on my way to the stable for a quick ride on my horse, I caught movement in the corner of my eye.
