It occurred to me the other day that I have been living in the upstate New York area for 30 years as of March 1st. Part of it was spent about 45 minutes north of where I am now in the beautiful area known as Marathon. The rest has been spend "down south" of there in the village of Endicott, a lovely combination of country and town all rolled into one. So you'd think after all this time, and all the years I've spent learning and practicing gardening, I'd be able to know when to start my seeds indoors. If I've learned anything from the school of hard knocks, aka gardening via the self-taught method, it is that all it takes is a move a few miles north or south to change the position of the sun, the wind, and even a slightly different climate to move the start date of seedlings up or down a few weeks or even a month or more. Even if you take the predictions of the Farmer's Almanac as gospel, Mother Nature has the final say. One year the conditions will be perfect to start your seedlings indoors in March, and the next year even mid-April will be too early. The worst blizzards I have experienced in the 30 years I've lived up in this area have arrived in mid-March. I guess Shakespeare was right when he warned: "Beware the ides of March!" While I can certainly make use of grow lights and heaters, what goes on outside the walls of my tiny home has as much to do with starting seeds as what I do inside.
I like to think that life works the same way. We want to plant new seeds in life, to start something new, and make positive changes, but the conditions have to be just right. Start it too soon and the seeds won't be strong enough to grow into seedlings. Wait too long and the season will have passed. So how do we know how and when to plant those seeds? We can start by getting the right soil, compost, and lighting, preparing the ground or pot. If we're trying to plant positive changes, we can start by letting go of what's no longer working and replacing it with positive thoughts and actions, preparing our inner soil just the way we would the soil in our pots. Then we begin watching for signs. Most often those signs come from within. We'll start talking to ourselves in a more loving manner. We'll start taking better care of ourselves. We'll wake up one day and our spirits will know that this is the day! The sun will be shining, the air will smell like spring, perhaps we spy a few tiny green sprouts on the trees outside. Inside, our hearts will be telling us that it's time to open that seed package and sprinkle the tiny messengers of change over the soil you've prepared to receive them. Then just wait. Water, shelter them from unexpected cold, give them love and light, and behold, a beautiful new way of seeing the world will begin to grow. Before long, a whole new life will have bloomed! So get ready, prepare your ground of being, and listen. Spring isn't far behind.
And so it is.
