It's April ~ the first full month of Spring...

While it's a season of new beginnings, spring can be difficult, too. If you're struggling ~ maybe feeling the "muddiness" of this time of year and the ways that new growth isn't always comfortable: You're not alone. And I've got some more encouraging news: April is National Poetry Month! And there are plenty of poems just waiting to help you normalize the complexity of being alive!

Here's one now:

Monarch
by James Crews

The butterfly does not break free triumphant.

Once it claws through the chrysalis,

it stands there shivering, new wings aching

as they slowly fill with blood. It must keep

its tiny eyes shut tight at first against

the brightness and shimmer of a world

it has never seen before ~ not like this.

It must listen until the soul’s voice whispers:

The flowers are waiting. Leave the skin

of the old life far behind. Open your eyes

and give in to the blue air that will carry you

everywhere you need to go.

I recently learned that poetry is the oldest form of written literature ~ it's been part of human life for over 4,000 years. It was so meaningful to realize this! That poetry has been with us, with our ancestors, for millenia.

Poems are powerful ~ they distill truths and offer us metaphors so that we feel less alone in the often-messy parts of the human experience. In the poem above, James Crews gives us a raw-jewel reminder that growth isn't all sunshine and lollipops. Sometimes there are shivers, aches and eyes closed tightly against a change that feels like too much, too soon. 

In our most challenging times, what we need is tenderness. And a sense of possibility. To acknowledge that it's hard. And to also wonder, What if it's safe to open our eyes? What if the way that emerges moment-by-moment ~ the blue air ~ will carry us everywhere we need to go?

If you'd like to practice a bit more with this, put a hand on your heart.
With your next inhale, say silently: The flowers are waiting
As you exhale, say silently: Open your eyes
Take three breaths this way.

When you finish, notice how you feel.

❤️