Change will come.

Hello Courageous Thrivers,

I can hardly believe that we’re almost at the end of February.

Where I live it was very much winter last Friday, but it felt like Spring this week.

Even before the warm-up, a few little purple crocuses popped up in my backyard. They were the result of my request for some spring bulbs for my birthday last year. AND the fact that I managed to actually get them planted before winter fully hit!

That second part is a big deal for me. I’m great with ideas, but have a lot more trouble executing on the steps that make them, well, bloom! Especially when the blooms require waiting and success isn’t guaranteed.

So, one lesson I’m hearing from the crocus is that little actions in service of a bigger vision often lead to its coming into being - but it may take some waiting to get there.

If you were to imagine yourself in 3 months, what little action could you do today that might be blooming and bringing beauty and delight into your world at the end of May? What’s your Next Step?

The crocus also reminded me that change does come. It always comes. Seasons turn. Pregnancies end - sometimes in birth, sometimes in death. Lakes freeze and then melt.

When we’re in the midst of an experience we like, often we wish change wouldn’t come.

When we feel change coming and we don’t feel ready, we often worry or contract, even if it’s “positive.”

When we’re in the midst of an experience we don’t like, we often long for change to come — and quickly!

Well, collectively (especially but not only in the U.S.) we are in the midst of a lot of change right now. A lot of us don’t like it. It’s a challenging time for most of us, and some certainly much more than others. Particularly if you are directly impacted by job loss or uncertainty, targeting of your identity, or threats to your safety.

(If that’s you and you want to let me know what you’re facing I’d be very glad to hear from you and offer a compassionate witness, at the least, so you know you’re not alone. And perhaps something else nourishing and supportive will arise from our interaction too. That’s the intention I will hold.)

In the midst of all the suffering and chaos, pausing to focus on a a tiny purple flower that will soon fade may seem frivolous or even selfish, inconsiderate, uncaring.

But in my experience the opposite is true. Pausing to notice that Beauty is also true. As true as the suffering. It helps me to find stillness from which to take wise action. It helps me find joy. It helps me to love.

Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle says that flowers are incredible teachers for humans BECAUSE they are so fleeting. They have a lightness to them. They invite us to actually inhabit the present moment, which is the only moment within which we can live.

So, if you have access to a flower, consider pausing long enough to see what it might have to teach you. If not a flower, a tree, or the sky or a bird. Anything from nature. Listen as if they have wisdom to share because they do. Trust what you think you hear/see/notice.

Then from that place, notice what is happening for you in the actual moment you are in. Are you safe in this moment? Are you breathing? Are you in a situation that you need or want to change? Okay then.

Look for what your next step is.

Just the one next step.

Right now there are so many things coming at us. We do need to pay attention and respond. But the more of us who can do so from the place of deep peace, stillness, and calm that is beneath the surface of life—like the massive network of roots that lie beneath the forest floor—the more power we have to be part of co-creating the change we desire.

So get still. Then ask. What is my next action?

Pay attention to what tugs at your heart. It might feel scary, but you know it’s yours to do.

Or your mind might tell you you “should” do something, but if you listen to your heart you get a “no.”

Trust what you hear. Make a choice. Take that one next step.

Which might be to sit awhile with a tiny little purple crocus and let it nourish your soul.

And, of course, if you want support as you seek to discern your next step, join us for Next Step Forward on March 10 at 7 PM ET. You can register here. I designed the group especially for white, spiritual women in the U.S. because I think we have important work to do at this time, particularly in support of BIPOG (Black, Indigenous, People of the Global Majority) humans.

But all who are inclined to join are welcome. Our theme for March is VISION.

Here’s to thriving and equity, kindness, compassion and courage,

Deb