We’re in the fourth week of April and some of us are finally awake to the reality that we’re in the soulful season of Spring. The rest of us are still surprised when we see a tree budding flowers and green shoots emerging from shrubs and branches. I saw the first blossoming tree over a week ago and now I’m seeing them almost everywhere. My surprise is that the daffodils in our yard have been flowering for well over a week and I just saw them two days ago. Where was my attention, my awareness?

Trying to pay attention is quite different from paying attention. One seems to be an after thought while the other is an ever present intentional thought process. When I’m driving my car and thinking about the list of things that need to be accomplished, my attention is in my head, in my to do list somewhere beyond where I am physically. I can drive by a field of flowers and budding trees and not see any of them. When I’m giving attention to seeing flowers and budding trees I see them. It’s a matter of choice.

Remember that we see what we’re looking for. When I close my eyes and listen, it’s phenomenal how vivid the picture can be and how possible it can seem. I may have to wait and work for what I’m giving attention to, yet the reality is present and available. This past Winter I envisioned the still frozen river roaring down the valley and today it’s  running fast and full. I closed my eyes the other day to listen for the music of Spring.  It showed up in the flowers and the wind. The soul of things is eternal. . . .

Over the span of our lives we learn about the five senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. What about the senses beyond these senses? We humans are multi-sensory. We refer to a sixth sense which incorporates a host of other senses that we’re mostly unaware of. Think of a time when you ‘sensed’ fear or anger without any physical clues. Remember a time in a forest, in a strange city, in a work place, in a public space, at a party or by a body of water. What were your ‘senses’ telling you?

Our environments have visible and invisible energies. When we’re tuned into these energies we become more aware of the messages sent and received. Today, the energies on the planet are very different from those of the nineteen fifties. Streams are polluted, the air is fouled, food is processed and people are closer yet more isolated. The collective desire increasingly seems to be for more things, more winning, more gadgets, more information, more speed, more  everything external and disposable.

How about more internal sensing, patience, attention, listening, kindness, selflessness, more love, more time off the tread mill, more quiet, peace, love, harmony, reverence,  serenity and awareness of our interconnectivity with the whole of creation? What about more appreciation, more willingness to slow down and live with greater sanity and care for one another and this fragile earth? The ‘seasons of soul’ are taking place everyday in everyone whether we know it or not. They’re part of who we are!

What we see is the outer shells of people, places, situations and things. They act as coverings for what we call soul, essence, substance, being, the ineffable and all that can’t be seen. Our shells tend to separate us from the reality of what really matters, what’s infinite and eternal. We substitute the forms for the substance, the shells for the seeds and wonder why we feel empty, disconnected, separate and lost. What we long for is a sense of inclusion, an encounter with our own deepest identity, our soul. . . .

Dying to our shells, our false selves, outer dispositions, clouded vision and lack of attention to the inner reaches of outer space opens us to our infinite nature where there are no barriers. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said: “The soul has no limits.” The soul is in touch with eternal dimensions and is never afraid of what is yet to come. The soul responds to invitations to move out of the protective controlling ways of doing to the ‘Art of Being‘ that fosters openness, hospitality and your own soulful-rhythms.

Sensing Spring is moving beyond our five senses while also including them. It’s becoming aware of that which is inside the shell of our form to experience the essence of Being. It’s attending to the multi-sensory dimensions of our human divine makeup to discover once again the extraordinary nature of our participation with the Wholeness of creation. It’s closing our outer eyes while opening our inner eyes. It’s   listening to the silence in wonderment and aliveness while celebrating another ‘season of soul.’  

• Allow yourself the gift of ‘sensing spring‘ over the next weeks. Give attention to seeing through the outer forms into the ‘soul‘ of what you’re focusing on. . . .
• Practice using a soft focus when looking with eyes open. Cross your eyes just a little to open yourself to a three hundred sixty degree multi-sensory vision. . . .
• Close your eyes and listen to what shows up on your inner screen of awareness. Keep a journal for the in-sights that arrive. Practice this Stilling Presence each day for the next six weeks along with Easter Vision. Allow yourself the gift of Openness to surprise and delight. Experience the Beauty and Wonder of Soulful Presence. . . .