Rites of Renewal

Every day since autumn, I've peered into a gigantic construction pit which will eventually become the city's tallest residential building- directly across the street from me here in Manhattan. Breaking through granite to dig a deep enough foundation to support a 52-story highrise means non-stop noise from rock-breaking machines, cranes and bulldozers.

But my jangled nerves begin to calm down and I can feel the tension loosen it's grip as soon as I cross Park Avenue and see that just steps away from the insane construction cacophony, Nature could care less about all that: She is very busy herself, heralding the arrival of a long-awaited spring in the Northeast.

The landscaped islands that separate uptown and downtown traffic on Park Avenue are hosting gardens that right now are exploding with new life. The churning of concrete trucks across the street be damned, a colorful sea of tulips petals is unfolding unperturbed! Their pastel flower heads gently stretch to follow the arc of the sun as it shines down the Avenue.

I notice the sparrows and pigeons are almost in a frenzy of busy-ness as they gather straw and twigs, an ancient ritual that has been enacted for millenia and will keep right on happening every spring, long after I'm gone. I find relief in that constancy.

And my heart can't help but lighten as I notice the cherry trees' blossoms have all just popped open to reveal fluttery, pink flowers drinking in the glorious afternoon sunlight.

There's something so inherently healing about the return of this light, sunshine, warmth and color that my soul begins to breathe easily again, more spaciously. There's much less room now for the crowd of worrisome thoughts and uncertainties that so easily become the everyday wallpaper of our lives as POSAs.

As POSAs, it can help us enormously to reconnect to something much truer and larger than the constrictive world of pain we are so often in. So, what has the potential to open us back up, expand our perspective and maybe even breathe some new life into us?

For some POSAs, religion and/or spirituality can fill that role. For others, it's art. For all of us, Nature can be that reminder of the connection with something much grander because we are all of this beautiful planet earth, connected to all her rhythms.

When we discover and live with the complexities of sex addiction/ compulsivity or chronic infidelity (take your pick) we become dislocated from our centers, from the core of our being. That's to be expected when relational trauma this big strikes.

But we can remember that no matter how much it feels like our sense of reality seems to change every hour and nothing feels secure anymore, the one unchangeable truth we can latch onto for stability now is that we are all connected to Nature. Go outside and see for yourself if it resonates as true.
Springtime makes it so much easier to notice our connection:

In the dependable arrival of spring after winter, sure and certain as buds springing to life on once-dormant trees, we can locate some stability for ourselves again.

In the reliability of the heron's return to our local marshes every spring, we can find a bit of comfort.

In the faithful bursting of neon-green buds on the willow trees every spring, we can take some solace.

In the loyalty of the birds that returned to bless us with their birdsong every morning now, we can attune ourselves to these rhythms of which we are a part.

So as it turns out, in actuality not everything is shaky and uncertain.

For all we don't know about the future, we can know this:

We are all a part of something so much larger, so much grander, so much older and wiser than whatever our relationship story is.

Really. Think about that.

I wish you much joy this week. Please share with our readers in the comment box below, where you are seeing signs of new life and beauty inside and around you.

Much Love & Renewal, Lili Bee