Lisa Hopkins: Living Life Unconditionally

Isn't it fascinating how affected we are by the seasons? Science will tell us that a lot of it has to do with daylight hours and circadian rhythms, but I’m looking more closely at the associated thoughts, expectations and attachments that we bring to the seasons and how they are affecting our lives.

Transcript

Lisa Hopkins: 0:00

So a couple of weeks ago, I tossed on my jean jacket, and I headed out in my sneakers to take a walk. I love wearing my jean jacket for the first time every year. So the buds on the trees were forming and the tulips and daffodils were just beginning to poke their heads up through the ground. It was amazing. There's really nothing like that first breath of spring and the feeling of hope and renewal that it brings. It's kind of as if there's an extra spring in our step, and a sense that everything's just going to be fine. Well, about a week after that first glorious spring walk that I had earlier this month, I had to take my winter coat out again, because the weather had turned unexpectedly cold, and the forecast was predicting flurries. So even though intellectually, I knew that it was spring, as I walked in my winter coat, that next day breathing in the cold air, my senses were really overcome with this unmistakable feeling. It was something I felt so many times before it was that back to school feeling that you only get in the fall. It's really, it's really amazing how effective we are by the seasons, isn't it? I mean, science will tell us that a lot of it has to do with the daylight hours and circadian rhythms. But I'm really interested in looking more closely at the thoughts that we associate with the seasons and the expectations that we have around the seasons, and the attachments that we bring to them, and how they might be affecting our lives. When the calendar tells us, it's the first day of spring, we assign all sorts of meanings and expectations to that and behave accordingly. I cannot tell you how often I hear people complaining about the weather as if they were somehow being cheated by it. It's It's funny how much time and energy we spend moaning when things aren't how they're supposed to be? Well, I'm not saying that looking forward to nicer weather is a bad thing that I am pointing out how easy it is to feel let down when things don't go as we had expected or hope. You know, I've also heard folks talk about how their good mood might be only because of the weather, and that they're worried that maybe it's the sunshine that's making them feel better. And they're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Wow. I mean to think that we can't even own our own happiness, we have to associate it with a season. Listen, it's time to take responsibility for how we feel, isn't it. And this goes not only for the seasons, but in all aspects of our lives. I've been thinking lately that there are things that we love about the seasons, just as there are things that we don't or that we dread. But wouldn't it be interesting if we could live each day in multiple seasons? So in other words, just because it's spring now, tomorrow doesn't have to be a typical spring day. Does it? Think about it? What are some things about other seasons that you enjoy? That you're only allowing yourself to do in those three allotted months during the calendar season? Interesting, right? I mean, that day that it was cold. In the middle of spring, when I came home, I looked at the fireplace and there was a voice in my head saying it's past making fire season. I said, That's so ridiculous. It will be lovely to have a fire right now. And how lucky are we that we get to have a fire? Again? Who makes these rules? Anyways, we do we make these rules. It's so interesting. And don't even get me started about the holiday season. First of all, we are never actually in the holiday that we are celebrating. Because we are so busy thinking about meeting expectations for the next one. Fall brings Halloween, which is really just a launch date for Thanksgiving, which is actually a kickoff for Christmas, which of course expects everyone to be joyful and grateful all at once on schedule at the same time every year. All that culminating in New Year's Eve where you are expected to stay up late, drink too much and then resolve to make the next year better. Wow. Well, I'm here to tell you that there is joy to be found in all of these things, but that it doesn't need to live in a container. It doesn't need to live in a particular season and a particular date. And if you can tap into what those joys are, like me the joy of feeling cozy in front of the fire That doesn't have to only happen in the winter. Imagine if I had listened to that voice in my head and said, You're right. This spring, I shouldn't light a fire. I would have missed out. So when things change and things don't meet our expectations, these are opportunities. These are opportunities to find something new or to do something that maybe you do at other times, and bring it to the present moment. Although the seasons will come and go again and again, over and over in the same order, spring, summer, fall and winter, year after year after year. We don't have to restrict ourselves to living a linear life. I am grateful for the ever changing seasons but not attached to what they are supposed to bring. Because I know that it is up to us to season, our own days, and our own weeks, and indeed our own lives. So spice up your days, spice up your minutes, and live your life to its fullest every day. Regardless of the season. I'm Lisa Hopkins stay safe and healthy everyone and remember to live in the moment