What a privilege it is to open up to inspiration,
discard the cloak of fear,
put your face toward the sun,
and bloom.
Elaine Fraser
It’s spring here in the USA and that means daffodils, tulips and the first gold-green leaves on deciduous trees. In New York, warmth had already come and the flowers were opening up to the sun and blooming. In Boston, it was colder and the tulip’s petals were drawn in like coats and scarves around their centre to hold in the warmth. They weren’t ready to shed their layers.
Snow lay in small drifts along roads in the Colorado mountains, the remnants of autumn snowfalls, and the trees and flowers were peeping out, hoping that the freeze was over.
In LA, the sun shines all year round and the jacarandas blossomed along urban streets.
The heat had caused the blossoms to bloom and the trees were a vibrant green in Northern California.
In Seattle, the sun had come out after months of rain and grey skies. People were rejoicing that summer had come. Rooftop lunches and alfresco cafe gatherings were the order of the day.
It struck me as I experienced this northern hemisphere spring, that in Australia the seasons don’t come slowly. Autumn is a blip between summer and winter. Spring is a brief explosion of growth before the heat of summer slams us. It’s been lovely to transition with the seasons here and to slow down.
Something in us needs that same slow transition.
My writing journey is like that. Books are sown in my mind and heart, then they grow. They sometimes lie dormant, they need tending, some inspiration. In the chill of fear, laziness, distraction or denial they can be dormant for a long time.
The sun of inspiration, the gift of time, the urgency of a deadline, forces me to write and finish what I started.
Travel stretches the mind. It makes your brain cry when you don’t know where you’re going, or how things work, or your senses are assaulted by so many inputs, it’s hard to make sense of.
But, what a privilege it is to open up to inspiration, discard the cloak of fear, put your face toward the sun and bloom.
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