not 4 but 6 Seasons…

The transition between seasons (both of nature and of our personal lives) are worth examining! And particularily, the in-between ones that lead us to the four acknowledged ones of winter, spring, summer, and autumn.

Here is the truth about nature’s seasons from the writer Kurt Vonnegut:

“Spring is May and June. What could be springier than May and June?

Summer is July and August. Really hot, right?

Autumn is September and October. See those pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves?

Next comes the season called Locking. November and December aren’t winter. They’re ‘Locking.’

Next comes winter, January and February. Boy are they ever cold!

What comes next? Not spring. Unlocking comes next. What else could cruel March and only slightly less cruel April be? March and April are not spring. They’re ‘Unlocking.’

So…

Haven’t you noticed that there’s a distinct difference between early and late fall and early and late spring?

In our part of the world early fall is when we’re harvesting from the garden and late fall is the season of frosts and cold weather when you want to bundle up but still want to go on walks. Maybe sometime between mid-October and late November most years?

In the spring the reverse seems true. Early spring has days consistently above freezing and the snow accumulation slowly melts, but’s not warm enough to really encourage much green growth. That seems to be March to mid April or so. Then late spring usually hits sometime around the first third of April or so and lasts until maybe mid-June, when summer begins in earnest.

So there is a lesson that Mother Nature provides us when we choose to listen. We can learn a lot by observing our world and then looking within to see what it can mean to us personally.

We know that seasons are temporary, that they change constantly. And just as all of nature cycles through seasons of change and transformation, effortlessly and naturally, so do we in our personal lives. Let’s remember to be aware of our own personal Unlocking and Locking transitional times.

Transformation is a natural part of life and an important component of our human evolution. It’s unavoidable, inevitable and yet manageable.

When we remember to flow with the shifting rhythms, we learn lessons about ourselves, others and about life. Our seasons come to help us grow emotionally, physically and socially. And they come to strengthen our soul, to enliven our spirit and to bolster our emotional resilence in the face of both adversity and opportunity.

Let’s not resist. Let’s allow. Just remember…