Lent Reflections Week 3: Focus

The equinoxes are special times of balance, when light and dark are poised in perfect equilibrium, until the balance tips over into the light in spring and dark in autumn. The equinox encourages us to consider balance and harmony in our lives, as we did in our meditation, and to consider how we can play our part in restoring balance to the world.

The inner darkness of the subconscious, which corresponds to the underworld, holds our potential for the year ahead, gestating plans and ideas. Just like the seeds and bulbs beneath the soil, all this new growth is now ready to burst forth into the light and warmth of spring. Nature is starting the great greening, blossom is beginning to appear.

After the equinox, the balance tips over towards the light and the days are now longer than the night. As the power of the sun increases and the days lengthen, we may be able to spend more time outside and to feel that surge of energy around us on the earth as we move into the active part of the year, the growing season. The lengthening days facilitate the transfer of energy from the inside to the outside, from Spirit into Matter. What is within flows towards manifestation. Whatever we bring to our thoughts will grow- love, wishes, intentions, visions, hopes and dreams. Whatever we give our energy to will grow, so let us consciously give life to the seeds we have been nurturing through the winter.

Joanna van der Hoeven says in her book, Zen for Druids:
“Spring is a great time to focus on Right Intention. We are planting the seeds for the rest of the year, and we want those seeds to be good seeds that will give us much nourishment. Thich Nhat Hanh speaks of the seeds we carry within us, such as the seed of anger, the seed of compassion, the seed of laziness and the seed of joy. We have both positive and negative seeds within us all the time. The importance isn’t necessarily on the positive and negative seeds within us, but rather which seeds we will tend to and water. When we water the seed of anger, we become angry. When we water the seed of compassion, we become compassionate. We don’t have to water the seeds that will cause us or others to suffer. Instead with Right Intention we work to bring harmony and balance, joy and peace at the returning light in our lives.”